Florence + the Machine are back and ready to dance their way into 2022. Four years after 2018’s High as Hope, Florence Welch and her coven of art-rock virtuosos have begun unfurling their fifth album Dance Fever, due May 13th via Polydor Records.
Led by a trio of bombastic singles — “King,” “Heaven is Here,” and “My Love” — and their equally exhilarating visuals, the studio set promises to be the perfect soundtrack of healing as the world hopefully inches its way back to life after the unprecedented turmoil of the past few years.
To welcome the reigning sovereign of baroque pop back into the limelight with the appropriate pomp and bombast ahead of Dance Fever’s release, we’ve rounded up and ranked Florence + the Machine’s ten best songs — from “Dog Days Are Over” and “Shake It Out” to “Ship to Wreck,” “Queen of Peace,” and beyond.
Check out the full list below, and scroll to the end for a playlist of all 10 tracks.
— Glenn Rowley
10. “Sweet Nothing”
There’s a very, very long list of forgettable EDM collaborations that belong in the wastebin of history. Florence + the Machine’s collaboration with Calvin Harris is not one of them. Listening to the track a decade later, it sounds very much of that time (when EDM was threatening to cannibalize mainstream pop) and timeless, sure to soundtrack spin classes and weddings in perpetuity.
What’s most impressive about “Sweet Nothing” is how it expanded the aperture for what we could expect from Florence Welch, who had tread up until that point more in the pop-rock space. Now, we understand Welch to not only be a spunky rocker and old-soul pop balladeer, but also a dancefloor diva — and “Sweet Nothing” kickstarts that legacy. — Spencer Dukoff
