For singer, musician and exciting performer Kristine Flaherty aka K.Flay, the term "non-conformist" is almost a euphemism, artistically and stylistically as well as commercially.
K.Flay started out as a rapper who didn't like the business, deconstructing hip-hop with her upbeat "blingity blang blang." She takes classic hard rock riffs to nip too much romance in the bud. She sings the most critical lyrics with apparent naivety and puts scratchy electronic elements under the poppiest sounds. Together, this results in very exciting music, because her mixture of indie, pop, electro, R'n'B and rap, the artist from Illinois inspires her fans.
On four albums to date - most recently "Inside Voices / Outside Voices", a record with which she consistently held up a mirror to hip-hop and several other subcultures - several EPs and singles, the American singer, rapper, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer reports insistently and sincere, abyssal and hopeful, whimsical and explicit, introspective and extrovert, scathing and lyrical of whatever is on her mind.
After all, that's what brought K.Flay two Grammy nominations and collaborations with the likes of Tom Morello and Imagine Dragons.