After her magickal second album ‘Ceremonials’ and the monumental ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’, Florence + The Machine’s fourth album ‘High As Hope’ hit a little lower against a personal, fragile line. ‘King’, then, is Florence Welch back up at her full-throated, anthemic greatest.
The song has all the burning heart emotion of a coming of age teen movie centrepiece but battles a very adult theme – a woman’s stark sacrifice of self, and potentially her art, to take on the identity of mother and wife. Amongst ritualistic drums, clashes of cymbals, quivering harp and violins whipping up into a frenzy, Florence finally declares “I need my golden crown of sorrow, my bloody sword to swing, I need my empty halls to echo with grand self-mythology – cos I am no mother, I am no bride, I am King”.
Welch’s album number 5 is yet to be officially titled and no release date has been announced, but it seems like it could be another solid classic. ‘King’ was written by Florence Welch with Jack Antonoff of Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Lorde and Bleachers fame but is probably the least Jack Antonoff sounding song he has been a part of yet. You can find the single’s Autumn de Wilde directed video below: