FLØRE, the Germany-based artist “with a vocal delivery that sits somewhere between Paramore's Hayley Williams and Lorde,” as described by The Line Of Best Fit (UK), recently released ‘Cigarette’ evoking the lasting side effects of its hold on its victims. If you have trouble imagining the life of a young German girl in the wagon towards becoming a bonafide superstar, this may help.
In a zoom interview, we got to know FLØRE as this sweet young lady from West Germany disguised in a seemingly dark aesthetic and edgy-style. The ethereal artist, who performed her first global live stream show on Amazon in early May, shared to us how she went from ‘Superbloom’ to ‘Romaniac’.
Photo Courtesy of FLØRE
“Well, this EP compared to the first one, was like so far, I think is more difficult because I wanted to try a bit of a different sound like even with the first one was 'Deadboys' which was kind of more like, maybe grunge rock kinda influence. I think the next one will be more like that as well, and with 'Bad Medicine' we had like multiple productions, and the song was really like not easy to produce, kinda, because we didn't know really where to go.” She also mentioned that she wanted to write an album that “bite back” and that the making of this album is more energy-driven and is rough, which is a different kind of approach from the previous album.
After releasing both tracks, she continued on her journey writing for her sophomore EP saying she was so mad writing these songs. And in great FLØRE fashion, she transports this as a means of “outlet of energy” by allowing herself to have these thoughts and getting lost in this alter-ego of a romaniac. "My outlet has always been the music, it's kind of obvious, but I think everything that happens to me, even if it's like bad or it hurts me, I'm always like well, it would probably be a good song story so keep on hurting me," she laughed saying it definitely makes it more dramatic. "I'm so grateful that I kinda have that and I hope everyone has this kind of outlet because, yeah like I said, anything could happen, even if my heart would shatter in a thousand pieces, it would be a great song story, so I think this is how I deal with it."
In another relatable content, FLØRE shared about how a particular person is behind the inspiration (or I would say, the cause) on most of her songs. "I have this one person in my life who I write to almost a lot of my songs. It was just that feeling again like of not seeing this person for, I don't know, almost a year and then the feelings creep back inside and you're like, maybe I should like get in contact again, which is like stupid." she laughs.
Photo Courtesy of FLØRE
We all have that one marupok (fragile in love) friend we all know, and FLØRE admits she’s one of them. "There's a line that really got me writing 'Cigarette', it was like, ‘when I forgot what I tried to forget, something wakes up inside of my chest, and it burns through my skin like a cigarette’ like the smoke comes up and this burning feeling through my chest, and yeah I forgot that I wanted to forget you so here I am." This song definitely captures that lingering hurt of a toxic kind of love you just can’t seem to just get away from, and she executed this hauntingly beautiful mood into a soft contemporary ballad with soothing keys and ethereal harmonies.
FLØRE has worked with other artists and admits she enjoys collaborating. "Well, Novaa is my producer so we're working constantly together and we're producing the songs together." When asked who she wants to collaborate with in the future, "Well, I love Lorde, obviously. I think Yungblud would be pretty cool because I love, like more rock music and I wanna try to go a bit more in this direction as well, so yeah that would be very cool. I'm a huge Bon Iver fan which would be more like indie, dark-indie so yeah."
Nothing is what it seems, and as our conversation goes on, you’d definitely pick up a different energy from FLØRE. She described her style to be kind of dark with a hint of light, saying “I love everything that’s kind of creepy and weird, but I’m not a dark character. Personally, I like to talk about dark or heavy topics but in person, I’m kind of the opposite.” saying it’s what draws her attention to it knowing the contrast of who she really is, deep down in her core.
Photo Courtesy of FLØRE
Especially at a time like this, it’s definitely hard to go day by day with what’s going on in different parts of the world. FLØRE shared that “It's okay to be not okay and it's okay to be sensitive and emotional and to allow every feeling and never be ashamed of or like afraid of like speaking what you're feeling,” In terms of individuality and her record, ”I would say it's okay to be different and it's okay be mad and to be angry kinda and yeah just having fun with being different."
FLØRE is scheduled to perform her debut show at Reeperbahn Festival (Hamburg) in late September being the first time she’ll ever perform with a live audience. “This concert in September is my first concert, like real live concert ever! I had these Amazon live stream but this will be a real concert, like 40-minutes on the stage. It's the first time I'm playing my own songs, after 2 or 3 years. It's so crazy, right?” as she nervously laughed and talked about how awkward she is with people.
“I'm super nervous but I'm super excited as well because I'm a person, well I sing, I'm confident, but the second I stop singing I'm like oh hey I don't know what to say, how to, where to put my body you know, so like talking is something that's I'm always like, like even interviews, like this is like I have to talk, so yeah I'm always nervous when it comes to talking.” If anything, she’s also excited about the pandemic ending and going out with her friends. She mentioned that she wants to go “traveling, and going to club again and hating that I went there."
With a growing fanbase, FLØRE has accumulated over 5.7 million streams on Spotify alone and is working towards releasing her sophomore EP titled ‘ROMANIAC’ in fall 2021. Watch this video message from FLØRE:
Being featured on Spotify’s curated RADAR GSA playlist putting a spotlight on rising artists from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, including popular playlists from over 20 countries including New Music Friday US, Southeast Asia, and Korea.