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1[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Florence__The_Machine_florence.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:320:Florence - the machine]]
3-> ''"I am done with my graceless heart..."''
4-->-- '''"Shake It Out"'''
5
6Florence and the Machine (styled as "Florence + the Machine") are a British band formed in 2007 and named for their lead vocalist, singer/songwriter Florence Leontine Mary Welch (born 28 August 1986), with "the machine" being her backing group (once a [[RevolvingDoorBand rotating cast]], it has now had the same lineup for nearly a decade).
7
8The band's name initially referred to Welch's original collaborator (and current keyboardist for her backing group) Isabella Summers. The two performed under the name "Florence Robot/Isa Machine", which was shortened to the current band name.
9
10Through the band, Welch is known for quite macabre lyrics ("Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" was her reaction to being asked to make an ''upbeat'' record for marketability!), love-or-hate performances and haunting vocals. Aside from her, the other permanent official members of Florence + The Machine are Isabella Summers (keyboards), Robert Ackroyd (guitar), and Tom Monger (harp, xylophone, percussion). Longtime members Chris Hayden (drums) and Mark Saunders (bass) both left the band in 2018.
11
12The band struck out in popularity after their debut album ''Lungs'' reached number one in several countries including their native United Kingdom (six months after release, and repeatedly), with Welch subsequently being deemed one of the foremost female pop artists of the year. Their albums since then have opened to continued critical and commercial success, even with [[NewSoundAlbum various shifts in sound and style]]. Their third album, 2015's ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'' became their first to debut at #1 on the US ''Billboard'' 200; the same year, they headlined UsefulNotes/{{Glastonbury|Festival}}, making Welch the festival's first British female headliner of the 21st century.
13
14The band's music is frequently used in media releases. They contributed the song "Heavy In Your Arms" to the soundtrack for ''Film/TheTwilightSaga: Eclipse'', and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROtBbOcdFxo performed the song]] "Breath of Life" for ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman''. "Seven Devils" was used in the finale of ''Series/{{Revenge}}'' and the trailer for the second season of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' (the band also performed the in-universe song "Jenny of Oldstones" for season 8 of the latter show). "No Light, No Light" appeared in a season finale of ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'', and "Over the Love" was made for ''Film/TheGreatGatsby2013'' movie soundtrack. Their cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" was used in the video game ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', and they contributed two other songs to the game in an [=EP=] titled ''Songs from Final Fantasy XV'', as well as a remix of "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. "Wish You Were Here" was also made for the soundtrack of ''Film/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'', and "Call Me Cruella" was their contribution to the soundtrack for ''Film/{{Cruella}}''. A cover of "[[Music/NoDoubt Just a Girl]]" was also included on the ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'' soundtrack.
15
16Welch also contributed her vocals to Music/CalvinHarris's "Sweet Nothing", and he remixed "Spectrum" for radio; Both charted #1 in the UK. She performed a cover of Music/EltonJohn's "Tiny Dancer" that was released on the tribute album ''Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin''. She also [[StuntCasting acted]] (or, perhaps, appeared would be a better word) in the filmed livestream of ''Series/TheThirdDay'': "Autumn".
17----
18!!Discography:
19* ''Lungs'' (2009)
20* ''Ceremonials'' (2011)
21* ''MTV Unplugged Presents: Florence + The Machine'' (2012)
22* ''How Big How Blue How Beautiful'' (2015)
23* ''High as Hope'' (2018)
24* ''Dance Fever'' (2022)
25----
26!! The Dog Days are over, the Dog Days are done. Do you hear the tropes 'cause here they come:
27* AlbumTitleDrop:
28** In the second verse of "Only If For a Night" on ''Ceremonials'':
29--->My own secret ''ceremonials''
30** And in "Between Two Lungs":
31--->Between two ''lungs'' it was released\
32A breath that passed from you to me
33** And in "I'm Not Calling You a Liar":
34--->There's a ghost in my ''lungs'' / and it sighs in my sleep'
35** Ulimately averted for both ''High As Hope'' and ''Dance Fever''.
36* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: An odd vocal choice all over the ''Ceremonials'' and ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'' album, "Seven Devils", "Spectrum" and "Love To Lover" (from the former) and "What Kind of Man" and "Caught" (from the latter) are the most weirdly accented.
37* AgonyOfTheFeet: Referenced in "Howl".
38-->I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground
39* AliceAllusion: "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" contains several literary references, including ''Alice in Wonderland'' ones.
40-->The looking glass, so shiny and new\
41How quickly the glamour fades\
42I started spinning, slipping out of time\
43Was that the wrong pill to take?
44* AllAreEqualInDeath: "My Boy Builds Coffins".
45-->My boy builds coffins for the rich and the poor\
46Kings and queens have all knocked on his door\
47Beggers and liars, gypsies and thieves
48* AndIMustScream:
49** Nearly word for word in "Bird Song"
50--->I opened my mouth to scream and shout\
51I waved my arms and flapped about\
52But I couldn't scream and I couldn't shout\
53couldn't scream and I couldn't shout
54** The ending of the video for "Never Let Me Go".
55* AntiLoveSong: Take your pick:
56** "Blinding", "Kiss With a Fist", "Leave My Body" are three examples
57** "Howl", especially the lines:
58--->Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers\
59Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
60** "Heavy In Your Arms".
61--->I love you" never felt like any blessing
62** "Make Up Your Mind"
63--->But if you're gonna make me do it\
64How'd you want it done?\
65Is it best to sip it slowly or drink it down in one?
66** "Moderation"
67--->You think you need it, you think you want love\
68You wouldn't want it if you knew what it was\
69[...]\
70And I'm still tryna figure out if it\
71Always, always, always has to hurt
72* ArtDeco: Seems to be the general look for the ''Ceremonials'' album.
73* ArtistAndTheBand: Florence started the band with Isabella Summers who was nicknamed "Machine" while Florence was nicknamed "Robot". It started as an inside joke that got way out of hand and "Florence Robot/Isa Machine" turned into the group we know today.
74* AuthorAppeal:
75** Florence loves the subject of drowning. Mentioned by description in ''Ceremonials'' liner notes, she's fond of the ''jumping off the edge and "enveloping"'' feeling which drowning often described as being. She once said that as a child, she dived to the bottom of a swimming pool and, for a moment, felt like she could breathe, and she's been trying to recreate the feeling ever since. This is said to be similar to her relationship to music. It came to the point that the main producer for ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'', Markus Dravs, forbade her from writing ''any'' songs about water. Drowning turns up in "Drumming Song", "Swimming", "Heavy In Your Arms", "What the Water Gave Me", "Never Let Me Go", "Heartlines", "Queen of Peace" [[note]] a boat is mentioned, to which the ''Genius'' contributor dryly noted "well, she had to sneak water in somehow".[[/note]], "Ship to Wreck"[[note]]again, breaking the above order from Dravs in the process)[[/note]], "Make Up Your Mind" and "The End of Love" along with being alluded to in the music videos for "Rabbit Heart", "Lover to Lover" and "Big God". It's implied in "Hurricane Drunk". Subverted with "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" itself which, despite sounding oceanic, is actually referring to the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles skyline and inverted in "Heaven Is Here" which involves Florence threatening to remove the water (perhaps in a nod to Dravs request)
76** Religion and spirituality is also a common theme in their music, maybe even more than drowning. Heaven and hell, the devil, voodoo, churches, dead and the afterlife, and a ton of other stuff pop up in all three albums and their music video. "Bedroom Hymns" is an entire song comparing religion with love while "St. Jude" invokes the patron saint of lost causes while comparing a failing relationship to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Jude_storm deadly 2013 storm]]. Florence confesses that she is obsessed with religion and spirituality, even though she's not religious herself.
77** ''Dance Fever'' was heavily inspired by the act of [[InvoluntaryDance choreomania]], which involved multiple groups of people uncontrollably dancing.
78* AwardBaitSong: The cover of "Stand By Me" from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV''.
79* AudienceParticipationSong: "You've Got the Love", "Never Let Me Go", "Dog Days Are Over", "Rabbit Heart", "Shake It Out", "No Light, No Light".
80* BadassBoast:
81** "Seven Devils":
82--->Holy water cannot help you now\
83A thousand armies couldn't keep me down
84** "Girls Against God":
85--> But, oh God, you're gonna get it\
86You'll be sorry that you messed with me
87* BattleCry: "And it's an evensong, it's a litany, it's a ''battle cry'', it's a symphony" in "Seven Devils".
88* BewareTheNiceOnes: From her Apple Music Lab video:
89--> I’m not a very angry person in life. I’m not a very confrontational or aggressive person, I—I’m very gentle, and…and yet sometimes my music is so ferocious, and I wonder what part of myself, perhaps, I suppress in daily life that comes out in my songs that even I find scary.
90* BigRockEnding: The endings of "Mother" and the titular song from ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'' could be considered this, or EndingFatigue. A more straightforward example appears in "Daffodil".
91* BloodIsSquickerInWater: "Rabbit Heart"; "the water turns from blue to red/as towards the sky I offer it..."
92%%* BreakUpBonfire: In the music video for "Lover to Lover".
93* ButNotTooForeign: She's half-American from her mother's side and has citizenship in both the UK and the US.
94* CallBack: At the start of the second verse of "Free" ("I'm always running from something / I push it back, but it keeps on coming"), the same handclaps from the chorus of "Dog Days Are Over" can be heard in the background.
95* CannotSpitItOut:
96** "No Light, No Light":
97--->Cause it's so easy to say it to a crowd\
98But it's so hard, my love, to say it to you out loud
99** "Mother":
100--->Make me a big grey cloud\
101So I can rain on you things I can't say out loud
102* CarefulWithThatAxe: The bridge from "Strangeness and Charm" has Florence's voice rise suddenly to a shriek.
103* TheCassandra: Name dropped in "Cassandra", with Florence comparing her isolation during the COVID-19 Pandemic to the same plight the titular character suffered.
104* CloudCuckoolander: Florence displays a random streak in interviews.
105* CosmicMotifs: "Cosmic Love" uses space imagery to describe a relationship.
106-->A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes\
107I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind\
108The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out\
109You left me in the dark\
110No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight\
111In the shadow of your heart
112* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Notably averted in "Girl With One Eye" and "Take Care".
113* CoverVersion:
114** On the ''Lungs'' album, "Girl with One Eye", "You've Got the Love", "Addicted to Love" and "Hospital Beds" are all cover songs. She's also done a few covers live, including "Halo" by Music/{{Beyonce}}, "Take Care" by Music/{{Drake}}, "Times Like These" by Music/FooFighters, "The Chain" by Music/FleetwoodMac and "Oh! Darling" by Music/TheBeatles.
115** And on one occasion, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP7kIgZQBhA a drunken mash-up]] of [[Music/DaftPunk "Get Lucky"]] and "Standing in the Way of Control" by The Gossip.
116** She recorded a cover version of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV''.
117** In 2018 she released a cover of Music/ToriAmos's "Cornflake Girl".
118** The deluxe version of ''Dance Fever'' includes a cover of Music/TheStooges "Search and Destroy".
119* ConceptVideo: "The Odyssey" Series, which utilises a number of songs from ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful''.
120* CostumePorn: Florence does love her fancy dresses, capes, and jumpsuits and most of her music videos show off multiple outfits in great detail. The music video for "Spectrum" alone has her in ''four'' different sparkly outfits.
121* DarkerAndEdgier:
122** "Sweet Nothing" gets rid of all metaphors originally used in her own previous videos. It isn't her song, she's just lending her voice to Calvin Harris's.
123** "The End of Love" gives the darker side of Florence's relationship with her late grandmother, introduced in "Only If For a Night".
124* DeadpanSnarker:
125** When someone asked what she'd do to celebrate winning a BRIT award, she said, "I'll do laundry."
126** In "Moderation", she asks: "Want me to love you in moderation / Do I look moderate to you?"
127* DealWithTheDevil: Florence is offered one at the end of "Girls Against God".
128-->I met the Devil\
129You know, he gave me a choice\
130A golden heart\
131Or a golden voice
132* DeathIsNotPermanent: "Seven Devils" plays with this trope:
133-->I was dead when I woke up this morning, and I'll be dead before the day is done
134* DeerInTheHeadlights: "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)".
135* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The video for "Sky Full of Song" is mostly this except for a shot of a flower at the beginning and end of the song.
136%%* DespairEventHorizon: "Mother"
137* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "A ''falling'' star, ''fell'' from your heart..."
138* DisproportionateRetribution: "Girl With One Eye":
139-->She tolds me not to step on the cracks / I told her not to fuss, and relax\
140Pretty little thing stopped me in my tracks / [[EyeScream And now she sleeps with one eye open]]
141* DrowningMySorrows: "Hurricane Drunk", "What Kind of Man", "Grace".
142** Played with in "South London Forever" where she reminisces about getting drunk while growing up.
143** "Morning Elvis" deals with the aftermath of such an act - skipping a visit to Graceland because she was too hungover.
144* DrivenToSuicide:
145** "Hurricane Drunk" says, "I'm going to drink myself to death."
146** In "The End of Love," "And in a moment of joy and fury I threw myself / From the balcony like my grandmother so many years before me."
147** "What the Water Gave Me" takes inspiration from Creator/VirginiaWoolf's SuicideBySea.
148* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Because of a change in her sound to the one she became famous with, the indie rock sounding, guitar-heavy "Kiss with a Fist" has become this. The recording that appears on ''Lungs'' is almost identical (or ''is'') to the one that appeared on her 2008 debut single.
149* EchoingAcoustics: Lots of reverb is used in the tracks "Never Let Me Go" and "Leave My Body".
150* EgocentricTeamNaming: Florence is the singer, Machine is her creative partner (and band keyboardist) Isabella Summers. The first name of their duo was even Florence Robot/Isa Machine.
151* ElementalMotifs: Water, specifically drowning, turns up a lot in their discography. Welch has stated that she is drawn to the overwhelming, enveloping feeling, which plays into her lyrics -- as does the (paradoxically) quiet peace also associated with water.
152** "Swimming":
153---> Your songs remind me of swimming
154--->Which I forgot when I started to sink
155** "What the Water Gave Me", which was partially inspired by Creator/VirginiaWoolf's SuicideBySea.
156---> Let the only sound be the overflow
157---> Pockets full of stones
158** "Heavy in Your Arms":
159--->My love's an iron ball
160--->Wrapped around your ankles
161--->Over the waterfall
162** "Never Let Me Go":
163--->Oh, and it's breaking over me
164--->A thousand miles out to the sea bed
165---> Found the place to rest my head
166** "The End of Love"
167--->You tore the floorboards up
168--->And let the river rush in
169--->Not wash away, wash away
170** "Heaven is Here"
171--->And all of the fish, let 'em flounder
172--->I went to the water, drank every drop
173--->I'll turn your sea to a desert
174** Brought to its head in the 2022 streaming compilation ''Water to Drink Not Write About'' - which [[https://www.flavorwire.com/521607/florence-the-machines-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-and-the-frustrations-of-tasteful-pop Florence said was producer Markus Dravs' assessment that she wrote too much about water.]]
175* EverythingIsAnInstrument:
176** "Are You Hurting the One You Love" features drumming on pots and pans.
177** Apparently ''How Big, How Blue..." uses the sounds of their instruments burning- they caught fire where they were being kept.
178** The alternative version of "Girl With One Eye" is called the "Bayou Percussion Version" and has the sound of breaking glass at the end.
179* EyeScream:
180** "Girl With One Eye".
181--->I took a knife and cut out her eye
182** In the video for "Cosmic Love", a ball of light floats to Florence and hits her in the eyes, and she screams. When she opens them again her eyes are sparkling, like stars. In the song, she states that the star made her blind:
183--->A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes\
184I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind
185* FanGirl: Florence is a big fan of Music/StevieNicks, cites her as a key musical and stylistic influence, and has been likened to her by many commentators and critics.
186* FakeOutFadeOut: Used in "Dog Days Are Over" and "King".
187* FamilyVersusCareer: "King" deals with Florence's struggle being wanting to have a family and realising she'll have to put her career on hold.
188* FollowYourHeart: "Heartlines" and "Shake It Out".
189* FreeHandedPerformer: Florence has previously claimed in an interview that she can't play any instrument. However, she has been credited as a percusionnist and a piano performer on albums of the band (starting with their album ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'' and continuing since).
190* {{Gorn}}: Many of the songs on ''Lungs'' contain quite gory/violent lyrics. Notable examples would be [[LyricalDissonance "Dog Days Are Over"]] , [[EyeScream "Girl With One Eye"]], [[TheMasochismTango "Kiss With A Fist"]], [[MadLove "Howl"]].
191* GainaxEnding: Insofar as much as a song-- and album-- can have a Gainax Ending, Mother. The song starts out as a blues-esque number with a killer guitar-led chorus, then all of the sudden three and a half minutes in a [[spoiler: FRICKIN' FUZZ GUITAR COMES OUT OF NOWHERE AND STARTS EATING THE SONG ALIVE as Florence keeps singing louder and louder, with even more psychedelic instruments popping up.]] This sounds like it's going to come to a head at a certain point, but then... [[spoiler: this disorienting cymbal crash comes in at the five minute mark and the song literally sounds like [[YourHeadASplode it just exploded.]]]] And after all that, it manages to go on for another minute. It's a complete GenreShift, and an utterly fearless way to end an album, but still... what the fuck Florence?
192* GenkiGirl: When performing, Florence can hardly stay put and she frequently runs and jumps across the stage.
193* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Dons a purple cape in the video for "King". Not that it stops her from snapping the neck of her lover in the video.
194* GriefSong: "Never Let Me Go" and "Heavy In Your Arms"
195* HappyDance: Discussed in "Free", where Florence uses dancing as a tool to cope with her issues with anxiety.
196* HarpOfFemininity: A GenderInverted example - while its use is played straight in their music. Tom Monger is the one behind the strings.
197* HauntedHouse: Used metaphorically in the song of the same name.
198-->My heart is like a haunted house\
199There's things in there that scratch about\
200They make their music in the night\
201And in the day they give me such a fright
202* HeartbeatSoundtrack: "Cosmic Love", especially in the music video.
203%% ZCE * HeavyMeta: "No Choir", the opening of "The End of Love", the ending of "Heaven Is Here".
204* HeterosexualLifePartners: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=822J0PC1IXE Florence and Isabella.]]
205* HotterAndSexier: "Sweet Nothing" takes place in a strip joint.
206* HumanSacrifice:
207** "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" is about sacrifice but not really taking a life. If anything she is referring to how artists have to sacrifice their image and style (that being what her label wanted her to do). The song is also about her fears.
208--->I'd written all these dark songs, and the label suggested we should have something that was a bit more upbeat. In the process of trying to do that, I realised maybe I was sacrificing something. So I had a really upbeat piano and drums, but the lyrics that came out were 'This is the gift/It comes with a price/ Who is the lamb/And who is the knife?' The rabbit heart is a reference to fear. I'm so afraid of what's about to happen. Of being in the spotlight." This is {{Lampshaded}} at the live shows where she says 'Find someone you love and sacrifice them.
209** "I can TAKE your heart, and then TAKE your soul" in "Seven Devils", amongst others.
210** Their possible second obsession besides TheOphelia. Sacrifice and exorcism are often mentioned in their works.
211* HurricaneOfPuns: The title of "Strangeness and Charm" is already a play on words. However, in the pre-chorus:
212-->Atom oh atom, oh what's the ''matter'' with me, love?
213* KillItWithFire: "Seven Devils"
214-->and no rivers and no lakes, can put the fire out\
215I'm going to raise the stakes\
216I'm gonna smoke you out
217* IKissYourHand: "Kiss your eyes and kiss your palms" in "Spectrum."
218* IAmTheBand:
219** Early on, band was once defined in ''their official bio'' as "Florence Welch and whoever is standing near her who can play an instrument". Her live shows occasionally featured musical friends such as Devonte Hynes (now better known as Blood Orange) to various members of the folk group Noah and the Whale. It also usually included Isabella Summers, who is technically the "Machine" in the band name. Since the release of ''Lungs'', the band has had a relatively stable lineup, and is now seen as a band led by Welch as opposed to one defined only by her.
220** Originally she performed with an actual drum machine for backing.
221* IncrediblyLongNote:
222** "No Light, No Light", at the end of the bridge, which is usually replicated live with a combination of circular breathing and modifying the microphone. Done for an impressive 27 seconds at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YTFdoDfkoY Orange Fest Warsaw]] in 2014.
223** In "Shake it Out", the last note of the bridge is sustained in the background of the last chorus. Florence's cries of "what the hell" during the outro also qualifies.
224** The "SayMyName" parts in "Spectrum" are usually drawn out for even ''longer'' live than she does in the soundtrack version.
225** A twist is used in "Big God", with an 11-second long vocal fry used as part of the outro
226* IntercourseWithYou:
227** "Howl" has some suggestive lines:
228--->Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart\
229My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in
230** "Bedroom Hymns" is one long comparison of religion to the ecstasy of sex. What else could "bedroom hymns" be besides singing by the wardrobe?
231* InsecureLoveInterest: The narrator of "No Light, No Light."
232-->Would you leave me,\
233If I told you what I've done?\
234And would you need me,\
235If I told you what I've become?
236* TheInsomniac:
237** "Lover To Lover".
238--->I've been losing sleep, I've been keeping myself awake,\
239I've been wandering the streets for days and days and days
240** "Hiding":
241--->Up all night again this week
242* InvoluntaryDance: The theme of "Choreomania".
243%% * TheLancer: Isabella Summers, aka "The Machine" in the name of the group, is this to Florence.
244* LeaveNoWitnesses: "Bird Song".
245-->I picked up the bird and above the din, I said "That's the last song you'll ever sing\
246Held him down, broke his neck, taught him a lesson he wouldn't forget
247* LiteralSplitPersonality: "Ship To Wreck" has a passive Florence and a destructive Florence struggling to contain each other during the video.
248* LighterAndSofter:
249** ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'' is lighter than ''Ceremonials''.
250--->''Ceremonials'' was so fixated on death and water, and the idea of escape or transcendence through death, but the new album became about trying to learn how to live, and how to love in the world rather than trying to escape from it.
251** ''High as Hope'' takes the trope further, dealing with the theme of finding happiness and tranquility in the mundane, though not without some challenges thrown in the mix.
252* LoudnessWar: [[http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/details.php?id=12200 Ceremonials is a casualty.]]
253* LoveIsLikeReligion: [[AuthorAppeal Florence just loves]] both religion and passion, so this trope is bound to happen.
254** Her [[ObsessionSong obsession]] in "Drumming Song" is "sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell."
255** "All This And Heaven Too":
256--->And the heart is hard to translate\
257It has a language of its own\
258It talks in tongues and quiet sighs\
259And prayers and proclamations
260** "Bedroom Hymns" is one long comparison of religion to [[IntercourseWithYou the ecstasy of sex]].
261** "St. Jude" invokes "the patron saint of the lost causes" for a failing relationship.
262** "Big God". According to [[https://genius.com/14821376 Genius]]:
263--->Instead of trying to deal with them herself, Florence decided that she personally needed a being both higher and larger than herself--a God--to which to hand these overwhelming feelings, as she was unable to deal with them alone. She hoped it would allow her to reconcile with her loss and fill the hole her partner had left in her life.
264** "Moderation".
265--->Then bow your head in the house of God
266* LoveMartyr: "What Kind Of Man."
267-->You do such damage, how do you manage\
268To have me crawling back for more?
269%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample ** "What the Water Gave Me" has shades of this as well.
270%%---> Oh my love, don't forsake me\
271%%Take what the water gave me
272* LyricalColdOpen: "Kiss with a Fist", "I'm Not Calling You a Liar", "Cosmic Love", "Falling", "Addicted to Love", "Bird Song", "Spectrum", "Shake it Out", "What Kind of Man", "Third Eye", "Delilah", "Make Up Your Mind", "Sky Full of Song" and "No Choir".
273* LyricalDissonance:
274** "Drumming Song" is about a crush, but to the casual listener, it sounds like the singer is ''slowly going insane.''
275** "Hurricane Drunk", which is a delightfully happy song. The first lines of the chorus are "I'm going out/I'm gonna drink myself to death."
276** Florence said "Dog Days Are Over" is about being destructively happy, and the lyrics strongly imply that whoever the song is about is trying to avoid this happiness.
277--->Struck from a great height/By someone who should have known better than that?
278** Florence {{lampshaded}} this when she explained how "Rabbit Heart" came to be.
279---> I'd written all these dark songs, and the label suggested we should have something that was a bit more upbeat. In the process of trying to do that, I realised maybe I was sacrificing something. So I had a really upbeat piano and drums, but the lyrics that came out were, ‘This is the gift/It comes with a price/ Who is the lamb/And who is the knife?
280** In ''Ceremonials'', "Breaking Down" has an upbeat rhythm, yet its lyrics implies insanity on the subject's part. Further stated verbatim in the Track By Track in regards to this song.
281** "Lover To Lover" describes the subject metaphorically descending to Hell, while having an uplifting soul vibe.
282** "Kiss With a Fist" has an 80's rock tone, with lyrics describing a couple violently in love, to the point many critics thought the song was about domestic abuse.
283** An earlier version of "Swimming" had more of an indie rock tone, while the final version settles on a more suitable dramatic orchestra.
284** Musically, "Daffodil" is quite downbeat and ominous but the lyrics are mostly about the subject getting excited over flowers blooming.
285* MasochismTango: "Kiss With A Fist": "You hit me once, I hit you back / You gave a kick, I gave a slap / You smashed a plate over my head, then I set fire to our bed".
286* MasqueradeBall: The music video for "Shake it Out" takes place during a 1920s masked ball, complete with masks.
287* MelismaticVocals:
288** "I don't need the birds let them fly-away-ay-ay" in "Leave My Body".
289** ''Ceremonials'' in general is absolutely full of this.
290%%* MessyHair: "The Odyssey" video series.
291%%** Her hairstyle in "My Love" progressively turns into this.
292* MinisculeRocking: "Restraint" clocks in at 48 seconds.
293* MoodSwinger: The narrator of "Free" is overwhelmed by strong, rapidly changing emotions.
294-->The feeling comes so fast and I cannot control it\
295I'm on fire, but I'm trying not to show it\
296As it picks me up, puts me down\
297It picks me up, puts me down\
298Picks me up, puts me down a hundred times a day
299* MoodWhiplash: On ''Ceremonials'', "Lover To Lover", which is a sort of upbeat screw-you-I’ll-do-what-I-want song, going into "No Light, No Light"'s apologetic and sad lyrics and soft vocals, which goes into the TranquilFury of "Seven Devils”, which is another screw-you song.
300%%** "Mother"
301* MouthStitchedShut: Florence and the rest of the band wore facepaint [[http://www.brooklynvegan.com/files/img/ah/voodoo-fest-2015/friday/voodoo-fest-2015-88.jpg approximating this look]] at Voodoo Festival 2015.
302* MsFanservice: Florence is a very beautiful woman in a classical, almost elfin sense, and she's not at all afraid to wear outfits that show her body off. She doesn't usually get as extreme as some musicians, but it's hard to argue that outfits like [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3c/f3/e7/3cf3e765a7de19a66212b25bf0e5ff96--florence-the-machines-florence-welch.jpg this]], [[http://imgur.com/X2Wbm this,]] and [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5d/09/92/5d0992079d71ac230d6f90ec1ee534a4--florence-the-machine-florence-welch-style.jpg this]] don't qualify. See StatuesqueStunner below. She also has a PantyShot in the music video for "Kiss With a Fist", is briefly topless in the ones for "What Kind Of Man" and "Long & Lost" and spends half the music video for "Ship to Wreck" in nothing but a lacy red bra and skinny jeans.
303* MurderBallad:
304** "Heavy In Your Arms" seems to be from the perspective of a woman whose boyfriend drowned her in a river.
305** "Seven Devils" can be read as one. In the bridge, Florence threatens to "break the walls", "sate your heart", and "take your soul".
306* MushroomSamba: Once of these is said to ruin the titular character's 18th birthday in "Grace".
307* NonAppearingTitle: "Drumming Song", "Cosmic Love", "Blinding", "Bird Song", "Which Witch", "South London Forever", "No Choir", "Choreomania", "Prayer Factory", "Morning Elvis".
308* NonIndicativeName: A downplayed example with ''Dance Fever'' - the name was chosen due to Florence developing a fascination with [[InvoluntaryDance choreomania]] during the first stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dance music tropes only has a minor influence on the album but is present in "My Love", "Free" and "Choreomania".
309* ObsessionSong: "Dog Days Are Over", "Howl", "Drumming Song", "Remain Nameless", "Addicted To Love", "Choreomania".
310* OneWomanSong: "Delilah", "Grace", "Patricia" and "Cassandra". Subverted with "June".
311* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Whether Florence uses long or short a's is song-dependent:
312** "Can't" is long-a in "Caught", but short-a in "Delilah".
313** "Delilah" features "dancer" as a short-a, while "Only If For A Night" uses long-a in "dancing"
314** "Between Two Lungs" uses short-a in "last", but is long-a in "The End of Love"
315* TheOner: Although they do cut between them, the music video for "Ship to Wreck" consists almost entirely of fairly longish tracking shots following her through the house.
316* TheOphelia: This seems to be invoked and more than a few lyrics refer to drowning.
317* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: "Howl" uses this trope as a metaphor for [[ObsessionSong obsessive love]]: her lover is the moon that makes a beast out of her, she hunts for him and wants to taste his beating heart.
318* OutlivingOnesOffspring: "Queen of Peace" which is (on the surface) about the royal couple losing their only son in a battle which they [[PyrrhicVictory ultimately won]].
319* OverlyLongName: Florence Leontine Mary Welch and Isabella Janet Florentina Summers.
320* PepTalkSong: "Third Eye" sounds like this until we get to the bridge...
321-->[[NarratorAllAlong I'm the same, I'm the same. I'm trying to change]]
322* PhotosLie: Averted in "Queen of Peace", the feuding families definitely aren't happy about Florence's marriage, to the point that they aren't even [[http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/07/21/florence_wide-8d318b107f01d7c1b57940c92c02517c320bbe92.jpg?s=1400 smiling in the photo]].
323* PimpedOutCape: While singing "Shake It Out" on ''Series/TheXFactor'', Florence wore a dress with six white capes held in place. She didn't move around a lot.
324* PrecisionFStrike:
325** In her Track By Track she calls "Lover to Lover" a "Fuck You"-like song.
326** In the song "Grace" from her 4th album, ''High as Hope'', she dropped her first official F-bomb.
327---> Grace, and it was such a fucking mess
328** Occurs again in "Light of Love", which was originally recorded for ''High as Hope''.
329---> In some ways that was simpler, being too fucked up to see
330* PrefersGoingBarefoot: Performing barefoot in concerts and music videos is one of Florence's trademarks.
331* PyrrhicVictory: Referenced in "Queen of Peace".
332-->[[OutlivingOnesOffspring His only son, cut down]] but the battle won\
333Oh what is it worth, when all that's left is hurt
334* RageAgainstTheHeavens: In "Girls Against God," the narrator decided to wage Holy War (that looked very much like staring at her bedroom floor.)
335-->But, oh God, you're gonna get it\
336You'll be sorry that you messed with me
337* RearrangeTheSong: The live version of "What The Water Gave Me" features elements of the released demo. There's also an added EpicInstrumentalOpener, sometimes adding a full minute to songs already over 5 minutes.
338* RecordProducer:
339** Paul Epworth (probably best known for Music/{{Adele}}'s "Rolling in the Deep") produced the entirety of ''Ceremonials'', along with "Cosmic Love", "Howl", "Rabbit Heart", and "Blinding" from ''Lungs'' and "Mother" from ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful''
340** Thomas Hull (also known as Kid Harpoon) came on board during ''Ceremonials'', co-producing "Never Let Me Go" and "Leave My Body" for that album. He later co-produced "What Kind of Man", "Ship to Wreck" and "Make Up Your Mind" off ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'' and "Cassandra" off ''Dance Fever''
341** Half of ''Dance Fever'' is produced by Jack Antonoff of Music/{{Fun}} fame.
342* RepurposedPopSong:
343** "Dog Days Are Over".
344** "Howl" has also been re-purposed for a car commercial, of all things.
345* ReReleaseTheSong: "Dog Days Are Over".
346* RevengeBallad: "Seven Devils", which has been used in both ''Series/{{Revenge}}'' and commercials for ''Series/GameOfThrones'' to represent the concept.
347-->Holy water cannot help you now\
348A thousand armies couldn't keep me out\
349I don't want your money\
350I don't want your crown\
351See, I've come to burn your kingdom down
352* SanitySlippageSong:
353** "What The Water Gave Me", "Dog Days Are Over", "Hurricane Drunk", "Seven Devils", "Kiss With A Fist", "Breaking Down", "Lover To Lover", "Bird Song", "Falling", "Swimming", "Ship to Wreck", "Grace", "Choreomania".
354** Subverted with "Leave My Body" which is about her wanting to lose her mind in her own singing and music in general.
355** "Blinding" deals with themes of disillusionment. She appears to be stuck in a fantasy world - unsure of what's happening in the real one, attempting to put the pieces of her memory back together.
356* SelfBackingVocalist:
357** On many of the tracks on her albums, Welch is one of the backing vocalists. In a few cases, she is the only backing vocalist and her voice has been overdubbed to create a chorus of one. Examples include "Leave My Body", "Third Eye" and "Sky Full of Song".
358** An earlier case is in "Rabbit Heart". WordOfGod claims that the person who mixed the chorus had a nervous breakdown.
359* SelfDeprecation: "King" says, "I was never as good / As I always thought I was / But I knew how to dress it up."
360%%* SeeYouInHell: The implication of "Lover to Lover".
361* SelfEmpowermentAnthem: "Shake It Out", which is about shaking out negative influences and demon's. "Rabbit Heart" may also count because it's about her want to be a lion-hearted girl.
362* SharpDressedWoman: Florence has worn a sparkly silver men's tuxedo - albeit without shoes - on several occasions. She wore a more normal one in the video for "Sweet Nothing".
363* ShoutOut:
364** In "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" she uses a line that was originally in a Gang Gang Dance song:
365---> How quickly the glamour fades.
366** The song also asks if that was [[Film/TheMatrix "the wrong pill to take"]].
367** [[invoked]]Also considering that the melody is similar to the aforementioned song, it also counts as SampledUp.
368** "Howl" includes a couple of lines from the 1941 WolfMan movie. It works really, really well thematically.
369** "Kiss with a Fist" has several references to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Bed setting a man's bed on fire in retaliation for violence.]]
370** "What the Water Gave Me" refers to the painting by the same name made by Frida Kahlo. It also alludes to Atlas and Virginia Woolf's suicide:
371--->Pockets full of stones
372** "Rabbit Heart" incorporates a lot of Pre-Raphaelite imagery.
373** The music video of "Shake it Out" alludes to ''Film/EyesWideShut'' and ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'', among other works.
374** "Shake It Out" borrows a line, a la "Rabbit Heart": "it's hard to dance with the devil on your back" is borrowed from the original "Lord of the Dance" hymn (yes, ''that'' [[Film/LordOfTheDance1997 Lord of the Dance]]).
375** The Spectrum music video's ballet dancers use the same head covering devices used in Theatre/SwanLake and has a few visuals from ''Film/BlackSwan'' and certain mythological beliefs. (Greece this time)
376** "Patricia" is a tribute to Music/PattiSmith. Also, it is a friendly wave to Music/PPArnold, who Florence says gave her some good advice at the start of her career.
377* TheSomethingSong: "Drumming Song" and "Bird Song".
378* SpokenWordInMusic: Combined with HeavyMeta in the ending for "Heaven Is Here".
379** Also present in the opening for "Choreomania", the bridge for "Cassandra", and later "Restraint"
380* StatuesqueStunner: Florence is 5'9" and displays her height quite well.
381* SillyLoveSongs: "All This and Heaven Too", "Spectrum", "Between Two Lungs".
382* SingleStanzaSong: "Restraint" consists of just two lines before moving to a scatting outro.
383* SingingVoiceDissonance: Florence's speaking voice is a British accent, but her voice is an extremely powerful American accent.
384* SpecialGuest: [[Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge Josh Homme]] turns up during the "MTV Unplugged" show for a cover of "[[Music/JohnnyCash Jackson]]".
385** Provides guest vocals to Music/LadyGaga in her ''Joanne''-era song "Hey Girl".
386* SuicideIsPainless: "What The Water Gave Me" is a happy song about suicide by drowning.
387* SummonBackupDancers: Used often, examples include "Drumming Song", "Big God", "King" and "My Love".
388* SurrealMusicVideo: There's a few of them.
389** The original "Dog Days Are Over" video.
390** The 2010 version of "Dog Days Are Over" retains the surrealism with a New Age vibe.
391* TheStarsAreGoingOut: In "Cosmic Love": "The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out."
392* StalkerWithACrush / ObsessionSong: "Remain Nameless", and that insane devotion they are known for.
393* StepfordSmiler: "Breaking Down" music video[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXWYOF0UhCk]]. A happy, brightly colored retro style video where she never stops smiling, while the cheerful sounding song's lyrics about an impending mental breakdown.
394** The ending of "King" lampshades this trope, commenting on how she'll continue to deal with mental health struggles, but she still needs to put on a face and get "back on with the show"
395* SubduedSection: The bridge of "Dog Days Are Over", "Cosmic Love" and "What Kind of Man".
396** Inverted on "King" - a quiet song with restrained vocals and minor instrumentation except for the bridge
397* TalkingToTheDead: Florence explained that the song "Only If For a Night" is about talking to her dead grandmother in a dream.
398* TalkingInYourSleep: "I'm Not Calling You A Liar".
399-->There's a ghost in my mouth\
400And it talks in my sleep
401* TalkyBookends: The videos for "What Kind of Man" and "Queen of Peace/Long & Lost".
402* TarotMotifs: Used as part of the promotion of ''Dance Fever'', with each card being turned over when a new song from the album is released.
403* TerribleTicking:
404** "Drumming Song".
405--->There's a drumming noise inside my head, and it starts when you're around
406** "Bird Song".
407--->And in my dreams began to creep that all familiar "tweet, tweet, tweet"
408* TextlessAlbumCover: Some versions of ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" omit the band name and album title.
409* ThreeMinutesOfWrithing:
410** The video for "You've Got The Love".
411** And also "Drumming Song".
412** The "Big God" video technically qualifies, as she and her backup dancers spend the whole time dancing in unison in filmy outfits that only get more see-through as they get soaked with water, but the eerie, witchy quality of the background (entirely black, including the water) and choreography negates most of the sexy.
413* ThirdEye: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Third Eye"]].
414-->Cause there's a hole where your heart lies\
415And I can see it with my third eye
416* TitleOnlyChorus: "Howl" and "You've Got The Love" off ''Lungs''. "Daffodil" and "Dream Girl Evil" off ''Dance Fever''
417* TranquilFury: "Seven Devils" has the soft but slightly creepy musical structure and threatening lyrics:
418-->I´ve come to burn your kingdom down\
419I'm going to raise the stakes, I'm gonna smoke you out\
420It's a battle cry
421* TrueArtIsAngsty: InUniverse, the narrator muses that pain and suffering fuel her art:
422** "No Choir" states that "Happiness is an extremely uneventful subject."
423** In "King," she says, "And how much is art really worth? / The very thing you're best at / Is the thing that hurts the most."
424** "The Bomb," a song about DestructiveRomance, ends with the lines, "And I'm in ruins, but is it what I wanted all along? / Sometimes you get the girl, sometimes you get the song."
425* TwelveBarBlues: "Kiss With A Fist"
426* UnpluggedVersion: Their ''MTV Unplugged'' sessions.
427** Deluxe versions of ''Ceremonials'', ''High as Hope'' and ''Dance Fever'' feature two or three of the tracks reworked as acoustic versions.
428* UpDatedReRelease: "Lungs" was re-released and updated with a 12 track additional disk and linear notes in late 2010.
429* VoodooDoll: The man in the music video for "No Light, No Light" uses one on Florence, making her jerk around on top of a skyscraper before falling off.
430* WeAllDieSomeday: "My Boy Builds Coffins" is about a coffin maker. He makes coffins for everyone, from the richest royalty to the poorest beggars; he's built himself a coffin and one for the singer, and "One of these days he'll make one for you".
431* WeightWoe: The opening line for "Hunger" reveals Florence developed an eating disorder as a teenager.
432* WhatIsThisFeeling: "All This and Heaven Too" is about struggling to put feelings into words.
433-->I can't seem to understand it and\
434And I would give all this and Heaven too\
435I would give it all if only for a moment that I could just understand\
436the meaning of the word you see\
437'cause I've been scrawling it forever\
438but it never makes sense to me at all
439* WholesomeCrossdresser:
440** Florence dons a suit in the original "Dog Days are Over" video.
441** In "Sweet Nothing", she wears one as well, also pinning her hair up.
442* YouAreNotAlone: "Third Eye".
443-->You deserve to be loved and you deserve what you are given
444* YoungerThanTheyLook: She's in her mid-thirties, but looks about ten years older; it's a bit difficult for some people to wrap their head around. Or to think that Florence is the same age as her contemporary Music/LadyGaga.
445-----
446--> ''So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart ...''

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