Music
Video Diaries
The Video Diaries: Florence + The Machine
Key moments in the career of singer-songwriter frontwoman Florence Welch, caught on camera
It’s been seventeen years since Florence + The Machine released their debut single, and Welch still has more stories to tell. Several times over the years, the singer has insinuated that she might step back from her front-facing career in music, settle down, perhaps have children. The tension between her personal and public life is meticulously picked through in Dance Fever, her 2022 album – but of course, art wins out, and Welch is back for more. In the lead-up to the band’s sixth studio album, Everybody Scream, and the accompanying UK tour, we’re combing back through the video archives to compile key moments in Florence + The Machine’s rise.
2008 – ‘Kiss With A Fist’
Florence + The Machine’s slightly controversial debut single was released in June 2008. A depiction of a mutually abusive relationship, the track is sonically distinct from much of what was to come, and Welch’s writing takes a much more conversational bent, reminiscent of Lily Allen and Kate Nash, both of whom had seen big success just a couple of years prior. The video for ‘Kiss With A Fist’ shows Welch dancing around in era-appropriate stripy tights, setting furniture on fake fire, and lobbing playful punches at her love interest. It’s tightly-written, visually engaging two minutes that forces you to confront how catchy it is, but it feels a world away from the kind of thing Welch would make today.
2009 – ‘Dog Days Are Over’ for BBC Introducing
These BBC Introducing performances were key for the band in their early years, opening them up to a wider audience. They played a few songs in a studio in Maida Vale, but it’s this performance of ‘Dog Days Are Over’ that’s really worth revisiting. Welch’s total immersion in the performance is hypnotising to watch, and her raw vocals – as always – are astonishing.
2011 – Gossip Girl cameo
Following the release – and huge success – of the band’s debut album, Lungs, Florence + The Machine made an appearance on CW drama Gossip Girl. Welch performs an acoustic version of ‘Cosmic Love’ live at one of the show’s many, many lavish parties, as various confrontations take place around her.
2011 – ‘Shake It Out’
In October of 2011, Florence + The Machine released the first single from their second album, Ceremonials, along with a masquerade-themed music video. ‘Shake It Out’ feels like the older sibling of ‘Dog Days Are Over’, an elevated version of everything that made the Lungs single a hit. The music video’s surreal visuals nod towards later album Dance Fever, as Welch dances the pain away in a frenzy at a masked ball. The song earned the band a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the Grammys.
2012 – ‘Spectrum’
The fourth single from Ceremonials would eventually be remixed by Calvin Harris, with the new track becoming Florence + The Machine’s first UK no.1. In its original form, ‘Spectrum’ is still a highly danceable piece of baroque pop, with an infectious drum line and operatic vocals from Welch. The music video is as theatrical as her audience had come to hope for, featuring a troupe of ballerinas, a city for Welch to loom over, and plenty of gold glitter.
2016 – The Odyssey
Weaving together nine music videos from Florence + The Machine’s third album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, short film The Odyssey creates a narrative that carries over between tracks. It depicts Welch’s journey to find herself again and heal after heartbreak, with each track and accompanying video representing a different trial or section of her quest. It’s a project as immense as the album itself, a marker of Welch’s commitment to her visuals.
2018 – ‘Sky Full Of Song’
Following How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, the visuals for this single from the band’s fourth album High As Hope are much simpler. Shot in black and white, the video shows Welch performing the track in an empty room. Differing from her usual performance style, ‘Sky Full Of Song’ shows Welch introspective and quiet, as if speaking to herself.
2022 – ‘King’
After a hiatus, Florence + The Machine returned in 2022 with Dance Fever, a soaring, searing reflection on what it is to be both an artist and a woman. The video for lead single ‘King’ sees Welch take on a witchy persona, carrying off her man only to snap his neck, and growing her cult as she goes. Gorgeous locations and a delightfully unsettling performance from Welch make it one of the band’s best music videos.
2024 – ‘You’ve Got The Love’ at BBC Proms
On 11 September 2024, Florence + The Machine performed at the Royal Albert Hall with the Jules Buckley Orchestra as part of BBC Proms Series. This cover of an 80s house track by the Source featuring Candi Staton was one released very early into the band’s career, eventually winding up as a bonus track on Lungs. It’s a song so perfect for Welch’s voice that it’s hard to believe she didn’t write it herself, and this rendition at Royal Albert Hall is particularly magical.
2025 – ‘Everybody Scream’
In August of this year, Florence + The Machine released the lead single and title track from their upcoming sixth studio album, Everybody Scream, along with visuals which once again see Welch at the head of a witchy cult. Autumn de Wilde directs the music video, in which Welch and friends invade a country house and terrorise its inhabitants. “How can I leave you when you’re screaming my name?” she asks her audience. Happily, she isn’t going anywhere for a while.
