Florence Welch reveals one of her “favourite artists of all time”

Welch spoke to Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe about her experience making the track, focusing on two key collaborations at the heart of the recent work.

First, Mark Bowen of Idles was a key collaborator across the album, and even appears in the new music video. Bowen worked closely with Welch on the project, and, in the case of ‘Everybody Scream’, began writing the music with her, wielding a “glam rock thing” that suddenly “broke down into this drone discordance that was really shocking, and sounded like a sonic scream.”

Working alongside Bowen, Welch was stuck in the process of making lists, which eventually found themselves used as the pre-chorus. As a result, she admitted that “the song really didn’t become what it was until Mitski came on board.”

Welch laughed, “She came to the studio one day and was like, ‘You need a chorus.’ [Mitski also said] ‘I just feel like there’s a chorus coming after this drone, it’s so striking.’ Working with her, honestly, she’s one of my favourite artists of all time.”

The ‘Dog Days’ singer continued gushing about the collaborations on the project, stating, “Getting to work with Bowen and Mitski on this record is just so special to me. I didn’t know if she even worked on other peoples’ records, but I reached out: “I know you’re in town for shows, would you like to come to the studio?” And she said yes!”

The pair discussed what ‘Everybody Scream’ was truly about, and found unlikely similarities to one another. “Mitski was like, ‘I think you’re talking about the intimacy you have with the stage—and I have that, too’,” Welch shared. “We just started talking about that, and the song emerged from us talking about this thing. It was such an amazing couple of days.”

In a glowing four-and-a-half star review of the new single, Far Out deemed Welch’s latest offering a triumph, writing, “On the titular track, Florence Welch takes a bite of the poison apple and welcomes the listener into a world that is dark, broody, and outrageously seductive.”

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