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Classic Pop

Here’s Everything We Know About Those Florence and the Machine Playlists

It’s almost been four years since the drop of Florence and the Machine’s last album High as Hope and if you’re anything like us, you’re absolutely dying to have the magic of Florence Welch back in your life. But patience, we have learned, always pays off, and after a brief dry spell (bar a few singles here and there), we’re finally seeing the beginnings of something starting to rumble.

While not anything new, the band have strategically created three themed playlists recently, featuring a compiled list of tracks from their discography, and dropped them a week after the other on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. To the untrained eye it doesn’t really seem out of the ordinary, but fans of FATM know everything Welch does is calculated and that she must be sending a message. From theories to clues, here’s everything we know about the playlists and what we think they mean for future FATM projects.

Are they hinting at natural elements?

Titled “Water To Drink Not Write About”, “My Favourite Ghosts” and “Harder Than Hell”, fans were quick to speculate that each playlist represented one of the 5 elements of nature, with the first representing water, the second air, and the third fire. With that thought, will there be another playlist to come that represents earth, and possibly an announcement that arrives earthside? With the mystical themes Florence is known for, it’s definitely possible. We guess we’ll just have to wait and see what arrives for us this week!

Florence named and created the playlists herself

What we know for certain is that the puppeteer pulling all the strings is of course Florence herself, meaning there’s a reason why each song is where it is. The only thing we don’t know however is what the hell it all means. With its water influences, “Water To Drink Not Write About” seems to hint at themes of loneliness, new beginnings and troubled relationships. Verging on the line of supernatural, “My Favorite Ghosts” looks at mythical fantasies, death and the ghosts of relationships, people and feelings, and “Harder Than Hell” plays with the yin and yang that is passion and heartbreak. With the few years we’ve all had, it’s possible these themes could translate to new music as well.

The songs could be telling us what the new album will sound like

It’s clear that all three playlists are designed to significantly differ from each other, but the bow that holds them all together is they all sort of sound the same. A recurring theme in all of them is the classic FATM drums, the larger than life, euphoric bangs and clashes we’ve come to love from the band. Is this Florence’s way of hinting that the drums will be a big part of the new album? Another sound that pops up, specifically in “Harder Than Hell”, is 70s soul and rock, with a lot of tracks dipping into harmonious blues and rhythms. Again, this could be a clue as to what new music will sound like. With barely any slow and soft songs on any of the playlists, we wouldn’t be surprised if a vintage rock and dance record emerges.