Life as a Dog

K.Flay's previous work was interesting,
but pretty rough in the sense that a lot of great ideas felt undercooked or just came off as low effort. A lot of goofy and comical raps, that just never appealed to me, alongside some EPs that went in more interesting directions but didn't quite satisfy me. But this debut album is definitely K.Flay putting a much more mature and nuanced step forward.

Life as a Dog is an alternative hip hop and indie rock album with some low-key emo elements. The instrumentals are moody and slow, with the lyrical content often being melancholic. Add the fact that K.Flay's vocal delivery is very... "breathy"(?), and feels quite flamboyant, and Life as a Dog is basically an emo rap record.

As for the tracks themselves, there's a lot of great ideas. 'Make Me Fade' is by far my favorite song on the album and my favorite song by K.Flay, as the writing is tight, the production is very trip hop adjacent, and K.Flay doesn't carry that flamboyant attitude as much. But I found myself also enjoying the last four tracks on the record quite a bit. Which helped, because songs like 'Can't Sleep', 'Wishing It Was You' and 'Fever' were really not enjoyable for me. The writing on those songs had their moments, but felt a bit sloppier in comparison to what else is on the record. Also, I wasn't the biggest fan of K.Flay's performance on those tracks.

A lot of my problems with this record come from K.Flay's writing and performance. They're not bad - at least I don't think they're bad. They just don't appeal to me personally. Some of the writing feels too on the nose and a bit lazy. Some of the hooks are also not that great and the "breathy" and flamboyant vocal delivery doesn't quite jive with me.

But in the end, there was enough for me to like for this album to not be mediocre. It's okay. I do think that this album has a lot of charm for folks who are into emo-inspired music with a fusion of rap. I can definitely see the modern indie rock fan finding some cool stuff here, because there is.