In person, Florence is petite and softly spoken, but once she sings all traces of softness are gone.
Londoner Florence Welch is better known as Florence and the Machine. She surrounds herself with her ‘machine’ of hand-picked musicians.
“I wanted to write a kind of alternative love song, something that was kind of celebratory in the destruction of two people – but it’s from an emotional perspective rather than a physical one,” she says.
Florence’s debut album, Lungs, came out in July 2009 and has already sold 800,000 copies.
“It’s a real hotch potch of styles, cause it’s an album written from the ages of 17 to 22,” she says.
Her style has been described as “soul inspired indie rock”, or “lush, baroque pop”.
“It sounds terrible on paper – but some people like it,” she says.
Florence and the Machine has rocketed to stardom in the UK. Lungs has been topping the album charts for more than 30 weeks.
“It was really exciting when it first came out and went to number tow – but then it stuck around, and now it’s crept back up to number one. I didn’t think that was supposed to happen,” she says.
The BBC has supported her rise to stardom from the very beginning – not a lot of artists can say that, and her fan base in New Zealand is growing.
Florence recently performed at Auckland’s Laneway festival, and many hope to see her back in Aotearoa really soon.
3 News