Dawn Richard is back. The Danity Kane alum has released her new single “A Flex” via Merge Records.
On the Katalyst Collective production, Richard confidently flaunts her bedroom skills that keep her man coming back for more. “I’m a very freaky girl / I keep it in the pocket when I twirl / Move it all around / Tilt-a-whirl / You ain’t gotta leave my world,” she sings.
Speaking on “A Flex,” Richard notes, “The track is the kind of confidence that only I can give in my records. Dipped in legacy, the kind of flex that comes from survival, culture, and craft.”
She adds, “It signals a new album on the way, one that continues my mission of building worlds through sound, movement, and memory.”
“A Flex” arrives with a conceptually minimalistic visualizer directed by Richard and Zildjian. Filmed in a stark, brutalist room with steel-gray walls and a crimson floor, a lone Richard performs a freestyled number that takes the song’s meaning to new heights.
“A Flex” is Richard’s first single since releasing her joint album with multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn, Quiet in a World Full of Noise, in October 2024.
Speaking on the album’s title track, Richard exclusively told Rated R&B, “‘Quiet in a World Full of Noise’ is one of those songs that feels deeply personal to me. In a world that never stops moving, where everyone’s vying for attention and the noise is constant, I wanted to create something that felt like a breath—like a moment to just be still.”
Before that, Richard and Zahn released their first joint album, Pigments, in 2022. Richard’s last solo album, Second Line, dropped in April 2021. In 2023, she treated her fans to a three-track EP, The Architect.
Most recently, Richard teamed with Teedra Moses on “Outta My Head (Reimagined)” from her Complex Simplicity (Reimagined) EP.
Stream Dawn Richard’s new song “A Flex” below.
