{"id":2048610,"date":"2025-09-25T08:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2048610"},"modified":"2025-09-25T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:23:17","slug":"florence-and-the-machine-powerfully-address-musics-misogyny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/florence-and-the-machine-powerfully-address-musics-misogyny\/","title":{"rendered":"Florence and the Machine powerfully address music’s misogyny"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Credits: Autumn de Wilde)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Florence and the Machine – ‘One of the Greats’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Every now and then, a song comes out and it\u2019s not only great, but of clear, genuine importance. \u2018One Of The Greats\u2019 by Florence and the Machine<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n

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The subject matter this track hits on is nothing new for the singer. For albums now, Florence Welch has been grappling with how it feels to be a woman in music. \u2018Girls Against God\u2019 is devastatingly articulate on it, singing, \u201cIn my darkest fantasies, I am the picture of passivity \/ Waiting for you side of stage, suppressing all my private rage\u201d, while \u2018King\u2019 is instead just a howl of that exact rage.<\/p>\n

The examples go on: \u2018Queen Of Peace\u2019, \u2018Delilah\u2019, \u2018Dream Girl Evil\u2019. On \u2018Choreomania\u2019, she puts it plainly, asking the men, \u201cYou said that rock and roll is dead \/ But is that just because it has not been resurrected in your image?\u201d<\/p>\n

But on this second teaser track for her upcoming album Everybody Scream<\/a><\/em>, Welch takes aim again and delivers an absolute killing shot. <\/p>\n

Through the verses, she considers the sacrifices; the way she\u2019s devoted her entire life to care, the way she\u2019s surrendered past lovers up to it all for something to write about, the ways she\u2019s self-destructed all for the sake of a song. She\u2019s grappling with the letdown of it all, singing about struggles with addiction, the exhaustion of a life like that and even the ways the entertainment industry seems to want to bury women the second they\u2019re no longer 20 and fresh. <\/p>\n

All of this is done with an unflattering rockiness. The instrumentation here is plain and to the point, with a loud and chugging guitar, reminiscent of Nirvana, while her angelic and unmistakable voice marches over the top. There\u2019s a precise determination to it, peeling back all the frills to make you hear.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s the bridge that she wants you to hear clearest, so I\u2019ll simply write it out here, to make sure you do:<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ll bury me again, you\u2019ll say it\u2019s all pretend
That I could never be great being held up against such male tastes
Because who really gets to be one of the greats, one of the greats?
But I\u2019ve really done it this time, this one is all mine
I\u2019ll be up there with the man and the ten other women\u00a0
And the hundred greatest records of all time
It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can\u00a0
Now don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m a fan\u00a0
You\u2019re my second favourite front-man
And you could have me if you weren\u2019t so afraid of me
It\u2019s funny how men don\u2019t find power very sexy
So this one\u2019s for the ladies
Do I drive you crazy?
Did I get it right?<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Put it on the walls of the museums, send it in a letter to each and every male music executive, or at the very least, go to her upcoming tour<\/a> and simply listen as the throats of a thousand women each night are ripped bloody and raw as they scream it too. <\/p>\n

Where to even begin with it? The reference to the constant stream of \u2018100 best X of all time\u2019 lists populated prominently by men with a few token additions<\/a> is like a savage kick. Then the follow-up with \u201cIt must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can\u201d, it\u2019s surely a knock-out. By the time she\u2019s calling out to the girls, dedicating all of this to them and confronting dead on men\u2019s fragility when it comes to powerful women, there is no coming back. It\u2019s done, it\u2019s dead, Florence Welch killed it, finally finding the exact right words to deal the ultimate blow. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the sort of song that demands space and more than deserves it. Florence Welch is one of the greats, this song proves it \u2013 musically, lyrically, and because of the vital message put so powerfully.<\/p>\n

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