Florence and the Machine (stylized as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and a collaboration of other musicians. The band's music has received acclaim across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Music Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. The band's music is renowned for its dramatic, eccentric production and Welch's powerful vocals.[1]
The band's debut studio album, Lungs, was released on 3 July 2009, and held the number-two position for its first five weeks on the UK Albums Chart.[2] On 17 January 2010, the album reached the top position, after being on the chart for twenty-eight consecutive weeks.[3] As of October 2010, the album had been in the top forty in the United Kingdom for sixty-five consecutive weeks, making it one of the best-selling albums of 2009 and 2010. The group's second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, entered the charts at number one in the UK and number six in the US. The band's third studio album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released on 2 June 2015. It topped the UK charts, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, their first to do so.[4][5] The album reached number one in a total of eight countries and the top ten of twenty. Also in 2015, the band was the headlining act at Glastonbury Festival, making Welch the first British female headliner of the 21st century.[6]
The name of Florence and the Machine is attributed to Florence Welch's teenage collaboration with Isabella "Machine" Summers. Welch and Summers performed together for a time under the name Florence Robot/Isa Machine. According to Welch, "The name Florence and the Machine started off as a private joke that got out of hand. I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn't have a name, so I thought 'Okay, I'll be Florence Robot Is A Machine', before realising that name was so long it'd drive me mad."[9][10]
In addition to Summers (keyboards and backing vocals), the current band members include musicians Robert Ackroyd (guitar and backing vocals), Chris Hayden (drums, percussion and backing vocals), Mark Saunders (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Tom Monger (harp).[11] In the past, Welch has praised her band for understanding her creative process, claiming, "I've worked with most of them for a long time and they know my style, know the way I write, they know what I want."[12]
In 2007, Welch recorded with a band named Ashok, who released an album titled Plans on the Filthy Lucre/About Records label. This album included the earliest version of her later hit "Kiss with a Fist", which at this point was titled "Happy Slap".[13]
Lead vocalist Welch performing live in Singapore, 2010
Florence and the Machine released their first album Lungs in the Netherlands and Ireland on 3 July 2009. The album was produced by James Ford, Paul Epworth, Steve Mackey, Isabella Summers and Charlie Hugall.[8] The album was officially launched with a set at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, south-east London. It peaked at number one in the UK and number two in Ireland. As of 6 August 2009, the album had sold over 100,000 copies in the UK and by 10 August it had been at number two for five consecutive weeks.[14][15] Following its 25 July 2009 release for download in the United States, the album entered the charts at number seventeen on the BillboardHeatseekers Albums chart,[16] ultimately peaking at number one.[17] The album was released physically in the US on 20 October by Universal Republic.[18]
"Cosmic Love" was released on 5 July 2010 as the sixth and final single from Lungs, with a music video having already been shot.[33] The song was featured in several American television shows, including Grey's Anatomy,[34]The Vampire Diaries,[35]V,[36]Nikita[37] and So You Think You Can Dance.[38] The band also made a guest appearance on 7 February 2011 episode of Gossip Girl, titled "Panic Roommate", where they performed an acoustic rendition of "Cosmic Love".[39] On 12 May 2010, it was announced that Florence and the Machine would provide a track called "Heavy in Your Arms" for the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film of The Twilight Saga.[40]Eclipse was released in cinemas on 30 June 2010, with "Heavy in Your Arms" playing during the end credits. The music video followed on 7 July 2010. An exclusive remix of "I'm Not Calling You a Liar" is featured in the 2011 video game Dragon Age II as "I'm Not Calling You a Liar (Dragon Age II: Varric's Theme)", produced by the game's composer Inon Zur.[41]
The first demo session occurred in January 2010 with Welch and Paul Epworth at a small London studio. Numerous producers expressed an interest in working on the album but Welch rejected the offers because she wanted Ceremonials to be a better version of Lungs with a "more dark, more heavy, bigger drum sounds, bigger bass, but with more of a whole sound". For the rest of the year work on the album continued only intermittently as the band concentrated on an extensive tour of the US, where Lungs had become popular. The majority of the writing for the album was done between January and April 2011, with recording taking place in April at Abbey Road Studios. Refinement took place at Epworth's own London studios while Welch recorded vocal tracks in various US studios, during days off from touring. The final recording session took place in July at Epworth's studio.[42] Epworth co-wrote seven tracks. Several other British writers share credits on the album, including Summers, Kid Harpoon, James Ford and composer Eg White.[42]
In June 2011, a cover of the Buddy Holly song "Not Fade Away", which Florence and the Machine recorded for the tribute album Rave On Buddy Holly tied to Holly's seventy-fifth birthday year, was released[43] and they performed Ceremonials' setup track "What the Water Gave Me" at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California.[44] In August 2011, the single "What the Water Gave Me" was released on iTunes[45] along with an accompanying video on the band's website and YouTube channel.[46] The video drew 1.5 million YouTube views in two days and the track received play on US alternative radio with strong support from Los Angeles radio station KROQ.[42] The single "Shake It Out" was released over the internet in September 2011, with standard release 11 October. In Australia, the song was playlisted at Triple J and Nova radio networks and received strong airplay in Scandinavia, Italy and Canada.[42]
The band's second studio album, Ceremonials, was released on the 28 October 2011. It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US Billboard 200.[47][48] On 12 January 2012, Florence and the Machine were nominated for two Brit Awards, Best British Female Artist and British Album of the Year, with the awards ceremony taking place on 21 February 2012 at the O2 Arena, London.[49] On 26 April 2012, the band released "Breath of Life", a song which was recorded as the official theme song for the film Snow White and the Huntsman.[50][51] On 5 July 2012, a remix of "Spectrum (Say My Name)" by Scottish musician Calvin Harris was released as the fourth single from Ceremonials, becoming the band's first UK number-one hit. Welch expressed excitement about putting new material together for a third studio album after the band finishes touring at the end of September 2012.[52] Welch collaborated for a second time with Harris on the song "Sweet Nothing", released on 12 October 2012 as a single from Harris's third studio album 18 Months (2012). The song entered at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming their second collaborative number-one single.[53]
In mid-2012, it was announced that Universal Republic Records was going defunct, moving all artists including Florence and the Machine to Republic Records making the label itself revived. In late August 2012, Welch told Style magazine that she plans to take a twelve-month hiatus before starting work on the band's next studio album, stating, "There's a big 'take a year off' plan. The record company have put no pressure on me for the next album. They've said I can have as long as I want."[54]
On 4 June 2014, Welch told NME that the band's third studio album was in the works.[57] In January 2015, a fansite posted a photo showing Florence and the Machine's upcoming album being mixed in a recording studio. On 9 February, the band played all the songs from the new album in full, amongst them "Ship to Wreck", "Caught", "Delilah" and the album's first single, "What Kind of Man" in a private London show.[58]
The next day, on 10 February, the band released a short music video for the title track of their studio album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful,[59] which also acted as the official album teaser, directed by Tabitha Denholm and Vincent Haycock and shot in Mexico. The single and album were available to pre-order subsequently on all popular online music stores. The music video is just under three minutes as compared to the five minute album version of the track. On 12 February, the album's lead single "What Kind of Man" was revealed on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show,[60] followed by the release of music video later that day on band's Vevo channel via YouTube.[61]
The band released a music video of another track called "St. Jude" on 23 March, choreographed by Ryan Heffington and directed by Vincent Haycock, continuing the narrative from the previous video of "What Kind of Man".[62][63] On 8 April the album's second single titled "Ship to Wreck" premiered on Huw Stephens' show on BBC Radio 1. The accompanying music video was released a week later on 13 April, continuing the storyline of past two videos.[64]
On 19 May, DJ Annie Mac revealed another new song from the record on her BBC radio show in name "Delilah".[65]
The album was released on 29 May in Germany, 1 June in the UK and 2 June in the US. A deluxe version of the album containing 5 additional tracks was released on 13 May 2015.[66] The album became their third number one on the UK Albums Chart, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200.[4][5] The album earned five nominations in the 58th Annual Grammy Awards
In 2016 Florence and the Machine recorded a classical cover of Ben E. King's 1961 song "Stand by Me", which was featured as the main theme to the video game Final Fantasy XV. It was premiered during the "Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV" event on 30 March 2016,[71][72] and the full version was released on 12 August 2016. Alongside their "Stand by Me" cover, they also composed two original songs for Final Fantasy XV, entitled "I Will Be" and "Too Much Is Never Enough", which were also released on 12 August 2016. In April 2016, the band released The Odyssey, a short film by Vincent Haycock and Welch which consisted of all music videos shot within the How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015) era, together with some interconnecting sung and spoken scenes. The premiere took place at London's Rio Cinema on 20 April 2016, and was followed by an unrecorded Q&A. The online world premiere on 21 April 2016 was delayed to the 24th due to Prince's death. The band contributed a song to the 2016 Tim Burton film Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children titled "Wish That You Were Here", released as a single on 25 August 2016.
2017–2021: High as Hope
Florence and the Machine performing live in Los Angeles, 2018
Welch confirmed on 27 May 2017 that a new studio album was in the works.[73] On 28 February 2018, the band's drummer, Christopher Hayden, announced that he had left the band.[74] The first single from the album, "Sky Full of Song", was released on 12 April 2018,[75] followed by "Hunger" in May.[76] Titled High as Hope, the band's fourth studio album was released on 29 June 2018.[77] A third single, "Patricia", was released on 10 August 2018. On 24 January 2019, Florence and the Machine released a new single, "Moderation", which had been previously performed live during the Australian leg of the High as Hope Tour.[78] It was accompanied by a B-side, "Haunted House".[79]
In early 2022, Florence and the Machine were confirmed to be headlining a series of summer music festivals, including the Madrid's Mad Cool.[citation needed] Towards the end of February 2022, fans of the band started to receive letters with a print titled, "King - Chapter 1", as well as a billboard in London displaying the visual of the work. Speculation indicating that a new single was about to be released were confirmed on 22 February by Welch herself through her Instagram account. The single, titled "King" was digitally released the next day along with its accompanying music video. Soon after, the single "Heaven Is Here" was released on 7 March. On 9 March 2022, Welch announced Dance Fever, the band's fifth studio album in a post to her Instagram account also revealing the album cover and pre-order date. She described the album as "a fairytale in 14 songs" in the same post.[83] The announcement was followed up with the release of the third single "My Love" on 10 March. On 20 April, the fourth single "Free" was released. The album was released on 13 May. It debuted at number one in the UK and number two in Australia.[84]
Florence and the Machine performing during the Dance Fever Tour in Chicago
In 2022, keyboardist Hazel Mills and drummer Loren Humphrey left the band. On 16 March 2022, Sam Doyle (drummer from the Maccabees) was confirmed as joining the band on tour for this era. However, Humphrey rejoined the band in summer of 2022. Isabella Summers, a founding member of the band and a long-time songwriting contributor for the band's previous records, did not participate in writing or producing Dance Fever. She also did not join the band for the Dance Fever Tour.
On February 5, 2024, the tracklist for Taylor Swift's eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024), was revealed via her social media accounts, featuring the band on the track "Florida!!!".[85] The album was released on April 19, 2024.
Florence and the Machine played at Australia's Splendour in the Grass music festival in July 2010. The group drew one of the biggest crowds of the three-day festival. They performed in the natural open-air amphitheatre, which had to be closed off by security due to safety concerns as an unprecedented number of festival-goers rushed to see the performance. It is estimated that 28,000 people of the 33,000 people who attended the festival crammed in to see Florence and the Machine. The amphitheatre was reopened shortly after the start, once the safety concerns were allayed.[99] In October 2009, the band's equipment and instruments were caught in a trailer fire during their European tour, forcing the band to use rented instruments to complete their remaining shows.[100] Welch stated, "You could hear the harp's strings ping in the fire. Strange sound. We recorded it and I want to use it in a song."
The Cosmic Love Tour kicked off at Dublin's Olympia Theatre on 2 May 2010 where the group performed a new song called "Strangeness and Charm"[114] and ended at London's Hammersmith Apollo on 15 May 2010.[115] On 25 June, the group played the Glastonbury Festival 2010, where they performed "Strangeness and Charm" and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" during their ten-song set.[116] Their performance drew one of the biggest crowds of the day and one of the biggest in the Other Stage's history.[116]
Florence and the Machine opened for U2 on the North American leg of their U2 360° Tour in June and July 2011.[117]
International appearances: Solo and as a group
In an interview with New York Post's PopWrap, Welch revealed that in the weeks and months prior to her performance of 12 September at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, she was so nervous she lost sleep and cried.[118] In addition, she struggled during the pre-show rehearsal with a move that required her to stand up on a rotating platform.[119] It was described as "both ethereal and downright joyous".[119] After the performance, Lungs (2009) rose to number two on the iTunes albums chart and "Dog Days Are Over" rose to number nine on the iTunes singles chart.[120] In addition, Florence and the Machine became the number-one search on Google and received 1,700 tweets per minute on Twitter.[120] Florence and the Machine performed "Dog Days Are Over" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on 15 October 2010.[121] On 20 November 2010, the band performed "Dog Days Are Over" and "You've Got the Love" on Saturday Night Live.[122] They performed an online-only concert at New York City's Ed Sullivan Theater on 16 December 2010 as part of the Live on Letterman concert series.[123] Welch and a number of other female singers opened the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on 13 February 2011 with a tribute to an ailing Aretha Franklin.[124] On 27 February 2011, Welch replaced pregnant Dido and sang her portion of Best Original Song nominee "If I Rise" (from 127 Hours) with A. R. Rahman at the 83rd Academy Awards.[125][126] Two years of worldwide touring had been scheduled to promote Ceremonials.[127] Welch and guitarist Rob Ackroyd held a private performance for a terminally ill 15-year-old fan, Karinya Chen, in Austin, Texas on 23 May 2016.[128] On the 29th September 2019,
the band finished their High as Hope tour at the Acropolis.[129]
Style and influences
Florence and the Machine performing live at Terminal 5 in New York City, 2010
Florence Welch has been compared to other female singers such as Kate Bush,[130][131]Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees,[130][131]PJ Harvey,[130]Tori Amos and Björk.[131] During an interview, Welch cited Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane as her influence and "hero".[132] Florence and the Machine's style has been described as "dark, robust and romantic".[130] Their music is a mix of "classic soul and midnight-on-the-moors English art rock".[130] Welch stated that her lyrics related to Renaissance artists: "We're dealing with all of the same things they did—love and death, time and pain, heaven and hell."[133] Commenting her success, she said: "I'm lucky that there seems to be a massive revival in female performers. My icons were always women like Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks and Siouxsie Sioux. Who wouldn't be proud to carry on that tradition?".[134]
Florence and the Machine won the Critic's Choice Award at the 2009 Brit Awards after coming third in the BBC's Sound of 2009 poll.[146][147] As well as attention from the BBC, the band received significant support from NME magazine, who included them on their annual Shockwaves NME Awards Tour for 2009, along with Glasvegas, Friendly Fires and White Lies.[91]
The Sunday Times described Welch as "the most peculiar and most highly acclaimed female singer of the moment" and "the latest in a line of great English pop eccentrics".[9]AllMusic referred to Lungs as "one of the most musically mature and emotionally mesmerising albums of 2009".[148]Spin magazine rated Lungs (2009) eight out of ten and wrote, "You've gotta hand it to the girl: She always makes you feel something."[149] The magazine named it the eighth best album of 2009.[150] In December 2010, Florence and the Machine appeared on one of Spin's three holiday issue covers as Artist of the Year.[151][152]
Florence and the Machine won the Mastercard British Album award for Lungs at the 2010 Brit Awards,[153] having also been nominated for British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.[154] On 19 February 2010, Florence and the Machine won Best International Band at the 2010 Meteor Awards.[155] The group led the nominations for the 2010 MOJO Awards, with four nods.[156] They received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.[157] In April 2011, Florence and the Machine were ranked 50 in the 2011 Time 100 poll, which annually lists the 100 most influential people in the world.[158] American recording artist Beyoncé cited Florence and the Machine as an influence for her 2011 album 4.[159]
^Cooper, Leonie (February 2016). And She Came To Give Her Blessing. p. 8. I'm lucky that there seems to be a massive revival in female performers. My icons were always women like Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks and Siouxsie Sioux. Who wouldn't be proud to carry on that tradition?((cite book)): |work= ignored (help)
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