K.Flay talks about new music, hearing loss

K.Flay Photo by Danielle Ernst

I recently received an email concerning an impending concert at the State Theatre in Portland that caught my interest. The performer, who is a two-time Grammy nominee, goes by the name K.Flay (born Kristine Flaherty) and is touring to support the release of her soon-to-be-released album (“Mono” comes out on Sept. 15); it also should be noted that she has more than a billion streams and has sold 100,000 tickets. But it was after listening to an advance of that album and learning what happened to her last year that made her so compelling.

In the summer of 2022, she woke up one morning with total hearing loss in her right ear which, for a singer, could be career ending. I requested an interview and was granted one that found me chatting with K.Flay over the phone from her Los Angeles home.

Q: Let me begin by saying that your new album blew me away — there is so much happening in those 14 tracks that make it a true tour-de-force, with that last song, “Perfectly Alone,” being an emotional capstone to the whole project, for sure.
K.Flay: Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and, yeah, that last song was the culmination of much personal growth with many moments of discomfort along the way.

Q: And if it’s uncomfortable to talk about the hearing loss, I can understand, we can bypass it completely and just concentrate on the music and the tour that’s bringing you to Maine.
K.Flay: Oh, no — I’m certainly happy to!

Q: So how does that work for you as far as performing goes?
K.Flay: Well, interestingly, it hasn’t had much of an effect, I think. The biggest effect, and I was talking to my manager about this yesterday, was that because I was entering some new territory I approached this last tour with an immense amount of preparation, mentally and physically, and so it created a situation where I was really ready to be on the road (chuckle). Not to say that I kind of shirked in the past, but I haven’t been as focused and as diligent. It’s important to me to do a great job and also make sure that I was going to be safe up there and not like lose my balance and crack my head open. So the unexpected consequence was that I was incredibly prepared and, in many ways, my pitch and accuracy have improved just because I’m so focused on making sure it goes well and I’m doing what I can.

Q: Quite frankly, that’s amazing.
K.Flay: Yeah, one of the great things when you’re playing live, at least for me, is that you kind of enter that low state when you’re just very in that moment and I think I was able to return to that place, and, oddly enough, to forget about the hearing loss while I was performing.

Q: I’ve heard that when you lose one sense the other ones become more enhanced, and it sounds like that might be the case with you.
K.Flay: I don’t know if, in a particular way, I felt that with my vision or olfactory or tactile, but I feel that my experience in the world has reoriented itself. And I think any time that we are forced to change our kind of preconceptions about anything, I think that that can be a time for emotional closing off, which is not the goal. Conversely, I think it could be a time for real growth, and that’s been where I’ve tried to keep myself.

Q: I’d like to switch gears here and ask if you’ve ever had a Maine gig before.
K.Flay: We have played in Portland one time — I think it was 2019, I believe, but I could be wrong — it could have been 2018 — and we definitely went to Eventide and got lobster rolls. You know, my biological father’s actually from Bangor, he’s dead and there’s not much family left, so I haven’t spent much time in Maine in a familial capacity but it does hold some of the history. So I’m excited to be back.

Q: Well, you’re coming into the State Theatre where I’ve caught a lot of great acts over the years, I think you’ll enjoy yourself there.
K.Flay: Oh, I’m super excited!

Q: I told you earlier how your new album affected me, so I ask: What can folks expect from your live show there in Portland?
K.Flay: Well, first of all, what you said is so exciting for me to hear, I’m always looking to expand the audience and the people that I’m able to reach, so it’s really cool to hear that. I think in terms of the show what people can expect is, first and foremost — energy. I really believe that I’m the one with the microphone, I’m the one who’s lit up, and I’m kind of the leader of the situation, so I want people in the audience to feel unencumbered by the stress and minutia of their sort of ordinary lives and bring them to a state of catharsis and energy. I try to inhabit that place myself up there — I try to be in that very present-oriented, unselfconscious zone.

Q: What do you look for in a performance when you go to a show?
K.Flay: Personally, I love shows where people are like extremely active onstage, so I try to physically inhabit the songs in sort of like an athletic endeavor for me up there. It’s really my goal to create the space for people to fundamentally have catharsis…to me, when I go to shows, that’s what I’m looking for so that’s really what I’m trying to provide. And the other thing is that when I leave I feel powerful, I feel like I can take on the things that are happening in my life and the challenges that are headed my way. And I think that that sense of empowerment is, to me, such a part of music in general, but really a part of the live show because there’s like that feeling of leaving the venue and you are just like buzzing — that’s what people can expect.

Q: And having watched the video for “Shy”…
K.Flay: Oh, yeah! There you go, now you know (laughter)!

Q: I’ve got a good picture of that now, for sure (laughter)!
K.Flay: Yeah, exactly, just imagine that for an hour and 20 minutes or so — it’s giving Tasmanian devil, you know!

Q: How many albums do you have out?
K.Flay: This one is my fifth studio record and I was very focused also on track listing. I was like, “How do I provide an amazing experience for somebody who just wants to play songs randomly and, in addition, how do I create an amazing experience for somebody who wants to throw a vinyl record on and kind of get taken on a journey?” I was really trying to do both of those things, and really the arc of the record — “Mono,” and the title is a nod to the hearing loss and a little bit of a wink because you’ve got to have a sense of humor about all this (chuckle) — is a reckoning of oneness and aloneness, and at first I felt I couldn’t tolerate it but now I can tolerate it and I can feel serenity; and that’s the journey that I’m hoping I take listeners on with this record.

Q: Well, you took me and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart because I like to be surprised and l like to be moved especially by music, and “Mono” did both of that to me.
K.Flay: I appreciate you saying that so much.

Q: Is there anything that you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?
K.Flay: I think the main thing is that the live show is such an important part of what I do and I’m just very excited to be bringing it to Portland. I’d love to fill up the State Theatre and create a wonderful evening for everyone. So that’s it and, again, my ancestors hail from this place so perhaps the ghosts of my family will be inhabiting the room in a wonderful way.

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.