If you don’t know Florrie, get to know her. 

For an artist who’s been releasing music since 2010, it might surprise those unfamiliar with Florrie that she’s about to release her debut album, The Lost Ones. For longtime fans, this has been a long, long time coming, feeling like a slightly surreal victory lap for an artist who has been on quite the journey for over a decade.

Florrie began her career as a drummer and songwriter for Xenomania, the British pop-music smash hit factory who are best known for Girls Aloud’s hits. Her own discography, a hidden treasure trove of should-have-been mega hits includes the electronic, synth dream that is Begging Me, to the glittery, anthemic I Took a Little Something (and more on that later…). Florrie’s music demands to be heard live and loud, showcasing her talents not only as a singer-songwriter but also as a dynamic drumming powerhouse.

The early to mid-2010s seemed poised to be Florrie’s breakout period. Starting as an independent artist and then signing with a label, her career unfortunately hit the breaks, unexpectedly. 

Despite these challenges, she has steadily rebuilt her musical path with a series of singles since 2019, culminating in the 2022 compilation, Personal. Fans were thrilled to discover that Florrie had secretly been back in the studio with longtime collaborator Brian Higgins, finally bringing us her long-awaited debut album, The Lost Ones. 

She’s just wrapped her (first-ever) US tour, supporting G Flip, serving as quite the warm-up for her upcoming series of performances at The O2, where she’ll open for Girls Aloud. It’s set to be a full-circle moment, as she drummed on their 2008 hit The Promise and co-wrote their anthem Something New.

When Florrie and I met, I reminisced with her about having briefly met her 10 years prior during her Coffee House Tour, where she performed a set at my university’s Student Union (that I admittedly had never visited, until that one day).
I’d discovered her music a year prior during a pretty turbulent time, yet was instantly hooked on her impossibly catchy discography. 
We shared excitement about the album release and the vinyl release, where Florrie shared “I’m so proud of them [the vinyl’s]! A lot of love has gone into them and the artwork. Although I’m signed to BMG and I’m releasing this record [with them], I went to them with everything done, so it does feel like an independent release in that sense. I dreamt up the artwork, organised the shoot, my boyfriend Archie shot all the images and I just love that it’s been this real, close team effort”.

And congratulations for just wrapping your US tour, supporting G Flip. How was it getting back on the road, and performing to a new audience? 

I really enjoyed the challenge of winning people over with the songs. I find it quite exciting, I guess it’s less pressure in a way than being a headline act. Also, G Flip’s audience… they’ve got a huge LGBTQ+ community and I have never felt, as an opening act, so much love. It makes me emotional talking about it because I’d go out, after the show, and meet people and everyone was so lovely.
I honestly can’t think of a better tour to have been on to get back into playing again, and obviously my first time in the US playing. And the tour was called Drummer! G was amazing, super supportive, and their team... I literally cannot fault it. 

There were a lot of long drives, there was a 22 hour drive to Canada, just in a van. That was intense! Apart from that, it was really great, I feel very lucky that I got to do it. 

You've been performing a mix of old and new songs. Are there any songs in particular you've found really get the crowd going?

People really loved Little White Lies, maybe because G’s music is slightly more rock? It’s still quite pop… and they play with a band and it feels slightly heavier than my music, so I guess that’s why they loved Little White Lies. 

Looking For Love is a new song on the album, they loved that one... It’s been hard to pick a set list because I have so many songs to choose from, and I kind of wanted to [just] play the album, but the album’s not out. I tried to have a mix. I did the first three singles of the album, then I did two tracks from the album that aren’t out yet, a couple of older tracks, and then a couple of my ‘middle’ songs, such as Hours that I’d released in the last 3-4 years. It was a nice mix and we always end on I Took a Little Something as it’s such a banger! 

You're about to perform a couple of shows, opening for Girls Aloud at the O2 in just over a week, which is pretty major! It's also a full circle moment for you as you drummed on their hit The Promise and even co-wrote the epic Something New. How are you feeling about it all? 

First of all, I’m very excited to play the O2! It feels crazy on the one hand where I haven’t done a show in a few years, and now I’m playing at the O2! 

[After] doing the tour with G, I feel very confident getting out there and playing, it all came back very quickly which was nice. It is a great, full circle moment. I didn’t really expect it… 

We reached out to Girls Aloud’s manager, and he was like “I’m up for this, but the girls need to say yes”, and then I waited about 4-5 weeks, and I started thinking they might have a DJ and not want someone else playing… Then I got this really lovely email from them saying “We would love for you to do this, it’ll be a really lovely full circle moment”. 

I still work with Brian Higgins who wrote all of Girls Aloud’s songs, and we produced my album together, so I think to have that connection, and obviously drumming on The Promise in those early days… I’m excited for that team of people. They’re coming on the first night, which is stressing me slightly… I’m sure it’ll be fine…!

I’m hoping they’re going to let you have a bit of a cameo on stage, drumming during the performance of The Promise…

Loads of people have mentioned this to me, and I would love it and I’m sure they’d be up for it too, but they don’t have a live band… If I could just jump on, with a drum kit, that could have been great! 

I’ve seen Nadine, we’ve got a mutual friend, and I’ve seen her on and off over the last year at hen do’s, weddings… She is so supportive, she’s my biggest hype girl. She kind of sat me down recently and was like “You need to put your foot down a bit more and ask for the things that you want”, so when I was emailing about the tour I was like “well… Nadine did say…!”

Perfect advice, God bless Nadine. This album has been a long time coming, and you've obviously been on a pretty major journey to get to this point. How are you feeling about it all?

It does feel surreal, but I think that’s because I’ve been away in a tour bubble and this week has definitely crept up on me! I just feel really proud of getting to this point. 

In lots of ways, it almost feels like a day one, at the same time as having all this history. I’m really excited for the future, I’m proud of this record and I know I want to be out touring, I’m thinking about a second record already which probably seems crazy to you…
I’m very excited to hear that!

I’ve got some ideas, I’m excited to write and I think of it very differently now, I used to put a lot of pressure on myself and set insanely high expectations. I think that’s why the fall and being dropped was so bad because I felt responsible for a load of other people, and put that pressure on me, because it wasn’t just on me, it was the whole team I was working with. I had a very close team from the people I made music with, my stylist… I just felt like I let them all down, and myself. 

I think going into this release and having released over the last few years, I just feel very grateful to be doing this and in a way, I want my music to reach as many people as possible, but I don’t put a bar on something, I definitely did before and had way too high expectations, like unrealistic! And I’m just way more relaxed about it… 
I was thinking about this about the tour, there was a point where I would have massively stressed leading up to [it] about every little thing, I am a perfectionist! But I feel if I mess up, I’m only human. 

I feel way more confident in sharing my vulnerabilities than I ever have been before, and that’s in the way I write as well. I feel like I write very honestly now and I maybe was protecting myself a little bit in the past. It’s so nice talking to people, hearing their stories, and how my music has helped them at certain times or they’ve found something positive about it. That’s why I want to do this…. To help and uplift other people.

I wasn’t going to share this, I’ve been having a very weird, self-reflective period recently. I look at my life in a timeline and that one summer where I discovered [you], it really sticks out, as it was the soundtrack of that period in my life when I was going through a lot and I’ve been reflecting a lot on more recently. And then over the last 10 years, I’ve listened to your music continuously and it’s always been this positive, uplifting source - so thank you! 

Thank you! That means a lot to me, because I have moments where I think making music is so selfish, I’m locked away in the studio doing something I love. Parts of making the album felt a bit selfish because I wasn’t putting anything out there, but hearing stories like yours is what motivates me - thanks for sharing, it means a lot.

You've done your very best to keep your fans fed over the last decade and more (and thank you!), despite how challenging it must have felt at times. When did you come to the realisation and decision that you were ready to go for it and put out your debut album? 

Someone else asked me this… I can’t remember and I’m sure there was a day where I sat down with Brian and said “We’re gonna do this, let’s do this”.

But I think it was quite a natural process, because I’d been writing a lot anyway from when I was in this pretty low place, to well… a year ago really. I’d been putting songs to one side and releasing singles, and I knew I wanted to tell my story and create a body of work. And when I say putting songs to one side, it wasn’t finished songs, it might have just been a verse idea or some chords I liked.

When I decided to make the album, that’s what we got really stuck into. And I’ve had the luxury of time, I’ve worked with Brian for such a long time. It’s not like when you’ve got 25 days in the studio, with this producer, and you’ve got to make a record. It was a very gradual process of working on some songs here and there, and I took songs on and off, however many times until I was really happy with the record and what it was saying.

I had an idea in the back of my mind that one day… I will release an album! 

And here it is, it’s happening! Us longtime fans have noticed there are a handful of your older songs that you've re-recorded for the album, including one of your best, I Took a Little Something. What can we expect from this new version and how did you come to the decision to re-record it? 

I think I always knew that I wanted to put one or two of my favourite older songs on the album, sort of as a nod to the older listeners and fans who’ve literally stuck by me for so long! I get a lot of messages about older songs as well. Part of it was choosing my favourite and then I’d try to choose a song that people message me a lot about, which was I Took a Little Something.

Get You Back was one of my favourites, from the EPs which was why I wanted to put it on.

And then, Looking For Love’s a weird one because I played it a few times live, and it was the last song I added to the album. My manager, Charlie, he has been a fan since day one. When I met him a year and a half ago, I’d finished the album, he’d heard it and everything, and then one day he was just like “Do you know what will live in my head forever is Looking For Love” and I was like “...that is such a great song!”.
It got me thinking about it, we talked about it back and forth, and I was like… “I should re-look at that”. I don’t really go back and listen, I have been recently because I’ve been putting together setlists. There’s so many songs to choose from! But Looking For Love is a banger…

Well I was going to ask about Looking For Love because I kid you not, this song… I love it, it’s honestly one of my favourite songs, ever! 

Had you heard it before, from an older version?

So I listened to it this morning actually because there’s a performance on YouTube of you at XOYO. I revisit that video all the time. I watched it this morning when I was getting ready, and I was thinking… I can’t believe we’re finally going to have it! So thank you obviously, Charlie, for encouraging you to get it on the album…

I’m glad! Part of me was thinking, for the older fans, maybe they’re expecting everything to be new. But I’m reaching so many new listeners as well, I felt like those songs deserved having a second chance. I get a lot of people saying, “Why don’t you release an album of the old, old songs?”. Because I did this compilation before Christmas, and a lot of new listeners were like “Is this the album?”, and I was like no, no, it’s just a collection of, not even the older, but the ‘middle’ songs.
Maybe I would do a vinyl of some of those older EPs at some point, I think people would like it… But I love that people are going back and discovering those older songs as well. 

I will admit, I discovered your music, back in 2013 via Popjustice. I know they’re all saying they want you to release the old EPs as a set of vinyls, so there’s definitely demand! 

I met a few people at the shows in America who are on the Popjustice forum and they’re like “Girl, we don’t go on there anymore because we know you’re looking at it!”. My boyfriend occasionally goes on it and he’ll send me a little screenshot that really makes me laugh but don’t worry, I’m not lurking on there…