Early 2000’s Inspired Queertopia!!

Get to know the future of R&B: R. Flex. Named as Now Toronto’s Artist to Watch in 2022, R. Flex is scrupulously revealing their vision for 2022.

Having already released the titillating R&B cut «La La Land» featuring Tafari Anthony, R. Flex is gearing up to release their incredible second EP «Flex With Benefits». Featuring production from Zlender (assistant mixing engineer on «Hotline Bling»), Def Starz (producer on Cupcakke’s «Ephorize»), Sofia Fly (Toronto rapper/DJ phenom), Driftnote (produced for Witch Prophet & Shad), & Tantu Beats (Netherlands’ platinum producer), R. Flex is ready to release one of the best pop/R&B EPs out of Toronto this year.

«Flex With Benefits» takes inspiration from the early 2000’s and was written with the ultimate goal of creating music to make people feel good. R. Flex shares, «I wanted to share that feeling with my fans, especially my queer ones, so they can come to my show and feel it’s okay for them to have queer desire. The deeper I got into creating ‘Flex With Benefits’, the more I wanted to exploit that feeling of queerness from the music to the visuals. I wanted traces of queerness all over the record. I wanted my queertopia».

Reminiscent of the likes of Janet Jackson, Craig David, Daniel Bedingfield and Mariah Carey, the six-track release features an amalgam of UK garage sounds to more triumphant, futuristic elements, all doused with R. Flex’s bubbly personality. Covering an underlying theme of innocence, it nods back to the artist’s adolescence and their intimate fantasies.

R. Flex is an underground star in the making. Their debut EP «In & Out» received over 30K streams and their song «Thursday» was a Top 20 finalist at Imsta Festa Toronto. Their arresting live performances also helped them build a name in Canada‘s music scenes opening for the likes of Above Top Secret, Silla & Rise, & Le1f.

In March 2020, R. Flex was one of the first artists to perform on Club Quarantine: one of the world’s biggest online dance parties to emerge at the beginning of the pandemic. Their performance of a striptease in the shower garnered them attention in Paper Magazine alongside queer icons Kim Petras, Charli XCX, and Tinashe.

The remainder of 2020 continued to see R.Flex flourish including having the opportunity to perform in the middle of Yonge Street on top of a truck for a Junteenth protest. Later, they headlined Luminato Festival x The Artery’s first virtual performance on Bramble, which won them new fans with their high octane performance. Wrapping up the year, they were chosen for RBC’s Launchpad Music Entrepreneurship Program. Finding a champion in the program’s mentor, Mauricio Ruiz (Jessie Reyez manager) praised the song, «In & Out», and believed it had international potential. At the end of the program, R. Flex was later chosen as one of the Top 20 finalists to pitch their final music project to Mauricio Ruiz.

In May 2021, R. Flex turned their energy to recreating an homage to Faith No More’s video «Epic» for their Megaphono performance. Polaris Prize winning artist, Lido Pimienta, caught the performance and requested R. Flex to be the main opener for her Toronto show in February 2022. R. Flex has since worked alongside Rosina Kazi of LAL from Unit 2 on a Vocal Health Workshop that centred queer & trans people in the Toronto community.

R. Flex is ready for you to Check The Flex!