Florrie

It’s taken Florrie a long time to make her debut album, The Lost Ones. Twelve years to be exact. In that time she was dropped from her label and walked away from music.

Florrie is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, and drummer. She has released many EP’s since 2010 and The Lost Ones includes some songs from them including “Personal” and a new version of “I Took A Little Something.” It also includes singles “The Lost Ones”, “Kissing In The Cold”, “Never Far From Paradise” and “Looking For Love.”

FEMMUSIC was honored to e-mail with Florrie about the process and the product of The Lost Ones.

FEMMUSIC:   It’s taken 12 years to release the debut. How did you go about song selection for this album? What was the hardest to discard?

F: I always wanted to make an album in the back of my mind, but I never really knew when the right time was, and I’d sort of been collecting these songs on the side. I picked from 100 or so songs and ideas, and I did switch them in and out quite a lot, but I’m really happy with what I settled on. I think they all kind of compliment each other and tell a story as well.

FEMMUSIC: You took a hiatus from music for a few years. What brought you back?

F: I went through a really low period after being dropped by my label at the time, and I felt like I’d let everyone down, myself, but also the team of people who I’d worked with and I loved. I’d been with them for a really long time, so I almost gave up. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make any more music, but I was still writing a little bit on the side, and I wrote a song called “Borderline” that Brian, my co-producer, sent to my publishers, Warner Chappel, without telling me. About nine months later, they called up one day saying, “your song ‘Borderline’ has got a really big sink on a finale episode of Grey’s Anatomy and they’re playing the whole song. It’s over this big montage and it’s airing tomorrow, and we have to put the song out tomorrow.” That’s what got me back into making music. I am so glad it happened that way, because I don’t know if I would have ever come to that conclusion myself, and it started building back my confidence. I had a really amazing response to it, and that’s how I got back into releasing music again.

FEMMUSIC: What was the biggest challenge making The Lost Ones album?

F: I actually had a really lovely album making experience, I think, because I had no time pressure. I’ve worked with the same people for a really long time, so I’m super close with them. They know everything there is to know about me and it was a really kind of beautiful creative time. I’d say maybe a challenge was working with the amount of ideas that I had and deciding what to finish and what to leave on the cutting room floor.

FEMMUSIC:  Can you describe your songwriting technique?

F: Yeah, it’s quite eclectic. I have a few different ways of writing. I will either sort of make beats, make tracks, come up with chord ideas or melodic production ideas. Then I will write loads of melodies over the top of a chord progression, and I might do it three or four times, I might do it for 10 minutes, I might do it for half an hour. Then I go and I comb through all of those melodies and pick the best ones, and I narrow it down. When it’s really narrowed down, I might have a few options for verses. I might have a few options for pre choruses. Normally, the chorus is pretty obvious. If it’s a special chorus, then the last thing I do is fill out the lyrics. So I always sing with words when I’m writing ideas, but a lot of the time they don’t really make much sense, but they’ll have a feeling or a theme or a chorus line.

FEMMUSIC:  Tell me about “If It’s Been A Hard Night.” How did that song develop?

F: That’s actually one of my favorite songs on the album, and it’s a letter to my younger self. I feel very different now to when I was first releasing music, and I’ve learned a lot about the industry and expectations and how to manage pressure. I’m definitely a lot easier on myself. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and that used to really stress me out. I’ve enjoyed making this album more than anything I’ve ever done before musically, and I think that’s a result of knowing myself now, and that is what that song is about.

FEMMUSIC:  Tell me about “Jealous.” This song has some interesting instrumentation and some other extra parts to it. How did this song develop?

F: I wrote just really simply on piano. I mean, it’s still a piano song, but it was very, very basic, and I actually really loved that with some of the kind of slow tempo songs on the album. It gave me a chance to be more creative with the instrumentation. I think there’s a lot of bangers on there. I love a big, anthemic sing along chorus, but I did a lot of jam sessions writing other melodic ideas on the slower tracks on the record.

FEMMUSIC:  You worked with Takura Tendayi. What made you want to work with him and what did he bring to the project?

F: So I’ve known Takura for a really long time, about eight years. He used to come and work with the guys I work with at the studio, and he has this  neverending enthusiasm. He’s always writing, he’s always working, he’s always sending me voice notes, it doesn’t matter where he is in the world. He MCs for Chase & Status, and he’ll be like at a gig somewhere and sending me voice notes of melodies. He’s just got great energy and is super talented!

FEMMUSIC:  What song (not your own) has had the biggest influence on you and why?

F: That’s such a big question to pick one song! One song that’s really special to me is a John Mayer song called “Stop This Train.” I remember I first heard it with my mom when I was about 19 years old and I decided to learn it on guitar. It really improved my guitar playing, actually, because it’s a difficult song to learn, but it just holds a special place in my heart. It’s the song I got engaged to two years ago, and it’s been in some really pivotal moments of my life. It’s always a song I go back to.

FEMMUSIC: You’ve toured with some incredible artists like Girls Aloud & G Flip. Besides the artists on this tour, whom would you most like to tour with, or collaborate with and why?

F: I love the challenge of being the opener. It’s a little bit less pressure, but you’ve got this challenge of winning people over which I really enjoy. I know which song that I get them on, and I can see in their faces like, “oh, actually, this is pretty good.” I’d love to tour with Griff, who is a UK artist. She’s going on tour this autumn. So, Griff, if you’re reading this, give me a call! Someone parallel would be great – Imagine Dragons.

FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to change about the music industry?

F: I think it would be adequately compensating writers for their time. Writers turn up to sessions and can write every day for a year and not get paid anything. You know, even covering travel or expenses or just their time, like a small, a small amount would go a long way in helping writers survive.

#florrie