Dance Fever Could be Florence Welch’s Best Album Yet

Now I know what you’re thinking. Florence and the Machine’s upcoming album Dance Fever hasn’t even been released yet. However, from the first three singles/music videos that have been released, it already feels like both a return to form and something strangely visceral and liberating.

In some ways, the first three songs we’ve heard thus far from Dance Fever are a return to the vibes of the first two albums Lungs and Ceremonials. Songs with mythological and occult references, mixed with very personal and relatable concepts. At the same time, there is a marriage here with the more personal anecdotes and vibes of the albums that came after. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful and High as Hope were less theatrical albums to some degree, but were more grounded.

Somehow, the songs “King”, “Heaven is Here”, and “My Love” (along with their music videos) seem to combine both vibes. It is clear by various lines in each song that the album itself was spawned from the pandemic, both the aftermath and the feelings that resonated during it. Florence Welch has always shined when she has been able to be on stage. It isn’t a surprise that she commented in several interviews that there was a bit of writer’s block when the lockdowns arrived in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“King” specifically, references conversations about trying to find her place in what society expects of a woman at a certain age. “I am no Mother, I am no Bride, I am King” is a clear reference to it. She hasn’t taken the plunge of getting married or having children, instead focused on being the King of her musical domain, pursuing her passion and career.

At the same time, the line “You need to go to war to find material to sing” clearly underlines the bardic struggle of writing music when you aren’t going out and meeting people or interacting with the world. “Heaven is Here” (the second single) doesn’t carry on this theme as clearly, but is more of a bombastic, intense (yet short) song to amp up the energy and reference her earlier works.

“My Love” on the other hand returns to this idea, planting its narrative in the center of her writer’s block. She describes her songwriting and her process of creation as expressing her love to her fans, and asks the question, “Where do I put my love? Do I wait for time to do what it does?” in the chorus. The song itself describes how the pandemic caused her writer’s block to slowly sweep in.

She could only watch as buildings stopped filling, people were required to stay at home to quarantine. Billboards no longer advertised venues and performances, because there were none. “My arms emptied, the skies emptied, the billboards emptied” and the next line, “My arms emptied, the skies emptied, the buildings emptied.”

So, like many other creatives and all of us in turn, she was faced with this new reality. Now as things open up again, this album has been born. The occult and mythological references are more pointed in the music videos, created with the help of director Autumn De Wilde. In them, Florence is a witch-like figure, or a goddess perhaps, with a coven of dancers following her through the intensity of the songs.

I am sure that the full Dance Fever album will be a very relatable one for a lot of people. Regardless of whether you relate to the contents or not though, I find that these three singles also stand well on their own in terms of how they sound. They are upbeat, yet carry Florence’s sometimes haunting vocals, along with her usual powerful crescendos.

Dance Fever, the new album released May 13th.
Pre-order at https://t.co/eI39aoJEXg 🌕✨
Artwork by @autumndewilde pic.twitter.com/Lpd4jqtU18

— florence welch (@florencemachine) March 10, 2022

I like Florence and the Machine’s music the best when it has that theatrical, powerful punch to it. I wasn’t as fond of her previous two albums, because they were more subdued. However, I like this careful blending of the two ideas, and I think this album could potentially please fans of both her first two albums and the two most recent ones. Dance Fever will release on May 13^th, 2022.