FLORENCE + THE MACHINE SHARES NEW SINGLE
Photo credit: Autumn de Wilde
Florence + the Machine has released a brand-new track, ‘One Of The Greats’, which debuted as Jack Saunders’ Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1. The single is lifted from Florence Welch’s upcoming sixth studio album, Everybody Scream, arriving 31 October.
Preorders for Everybody Scream are available here.
Florence says: ‘‘I don’t really know how to explain myself with this one, it was sort of a long poem about the cost of greatness. Who gets to decide what that is? Why do I even want it? Why am I never satisfied?
I feel like I die a little bit every time I make a record, and kind of literally nearly died on the last tour. Yet I always dig myself up to try again, always trying to please that one person who doesn’t like it, or finally feel like I made something perfect and I can rest.
Early in my career, I was consistently ridiculed and derided for the bigness of my expression. I was thrust into the spotlight but also told again and again I didn’t deserve it, or that because it wasn’t to their taste it wasn’t good. So maybe this is a 15-year outpouring of frustration. But also, a lot of the lines I just left in because I thought they were funny.
Me and Bowen from IDLES wrote it in one take. He played the guitar and I just sang it straight from the page. We meant to re-record it but the first take just had this amazing energy.
Then Aaron Dessner helped us take it to a truly transcendent place. I wanted it to feel like you were disintegrating into nothing at the end. Which is sometimes what the creative process feels to me. Death and resurrection over and over.’’
‘One Of The Greats’ follows the release of the album’s title track, unveiled last month alongside a video directed by Autumn de Wilde to widespread acclaim.
Everybody Scream was written and produced by Florence Welch in collaboration with a close-knit circle that includes Mark Bowen of IDLES, who also appears in the ‘Everybody Scream’ music video, alongside Aaron Dessner and Mitski.
The record was born out of Florence’s recovery from lifesaving surgery during the Dance Fever tour. That period of convalescence led her deeper into spiritual mysticism, witchcraft, and folk horror, as she reckoned with the limits of her body and the meaning of being “healed.” The album explores themes of womanhood, partnership, aging, and mortality, uncovering the uncanny and unsettling in everyday life.
Across her five previous albums - Lungs (2009), Ceremonials (2011), How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015), High As Hope (2018), and Dance Fever (2022) - Florence has become one of the defining artists of her generation. With multiple U.S. and U.K. No. 1 records and countless awards to her name, she is celebrated for her earth-shattering live performances and singular voice. She has sold out arenas worldwide, headlined major festivals, collaborated with icons including The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift, and published the lyric, poetry, and art collection Useless Magic.
