- 2025-09-25
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MUSIC
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Florence + The Machine Premieres New Song “One Of The Greats” on BBC Radio 1
British alt-rock band Florence + The Machine, consisting of Florence Welch (vocals), Isabella Summers (keyboards), Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Tom Monger (harp), Cyrus Bayandor (bass), Aku Orraca-Tetteh (percussion), Dionne Douglas (violin) and Loren Humphrey (drums), premiered a new song “One Of The Greats” on BBC Radio 1's New Music Show with Jack Saunders.
The song is the second single off of their upcoming sixth studio album “Everybody Scream”, which is set to be released on October 31, 2025.
On the track, the band worked with American rock band the National's Aaron Dessner.
The accompanying music visualizer was directed by Autumn de Wilde.
The band lead singer Florence Welch said of the song, “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.”- She continued, “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.”
She added, “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.” -
Florence Welch told Jack Saunders about the song, “I just can't believe I'm putting it out. Yes, it was recorded in one take. And it was the first take we did. I wrote it with Mark Bowen from idols, and he played the guitar. And I just kind of sang it straight from the page, and that this is the take. And I just it's one of those things, you're always asking the label if you can put out like, a song that's like, five minutes long. So with this one, I was like, they'll never put this up, like, we really want to put this out seven minutes long, like, we love it.”
She continued, “I guess it was sort of a long poem I had, and I never really put every song. I'm just like, I'll never put this out. I'll never put it out. So but it was a long poem I wrote about greatness or the cost of it, or why do I want it? Who gets to decide what that even is? And then it was also kind of a joke. So it's, like, really serious and also really unserious song as well. And it kind of evolves in this, like, almost like, train of thought, and that's very much how it was recorded. But I guess I wanted it to feel like you were disintegrating into nothing at the end, because it is sort of about the process of creativity being like, a sense, you sort of destroy yourself for something. And then you kind of dig yourself up all over again to do it again. You're like, why do I keep doing this? Like, what is this thing that I'm reaching for? There's a Martha Graham quote that's called divine dissatisfaction. And I think that sort of sums up the process for me, is this like, sense of divine dissatisfaction that just keeps, like, propelling you forward all the time.”
Photo by Autumn de Wilde - source : BBC Radio 1
