Florence Welch on her favourite song to play live: “I don’t even have to sing it”
When you’ve been dominating the music world for as long as Florence Welch has in Florence and the Machine, there are bound to be some songs that you enduringly love while others may tend to grate over time. That’s especially true in Welch’s case, having produced five albums’ worth of tunes and performed live hundreds of times on tour and at festivals. However, according to the singer, one particular song stands out above the rest for having existed within both of these parallels.
Speaking back in 2022, ahead of the release of the band’s most recent critically acclaimed album, Dance Fever, Welch reflected back on the highs and lows of her career and a song which has represented moments at either end of that spectrum. She said: “There was a song called ‘Never Let Me Go’ from Ceremonials that I really rejected for a really long time, and we didn’t play it for ten years. I was in such a bad place when I wrote it. I just thought, ‘Fuck it. I’m going to get this song out, and I’ll never have to engage with this moment again.’”
However, as with the strange way of the world, the very tune Welch wished to leave by the graveyard was among those that caught the most attention. She continued: “It’s another one that’s really technically hard to sing, but it became this fan favourite. Always happens like this — all of the ones that I’m like, ‘Oh, terrible fucking place’.”
Welch’s view of the song was understandable given its personal pain to her, but the soaring anthem, ‘Never Let Me Go’, is simply quintessential Florence that fans would flock to worship. However, she explained the intrinsic connection with how her music projects onto her sense of self, saying: “Especially as a female artist who makes really big music with big feelings, you can start to feel like you’re not being taken seriously.” Despite this, she insisted that: “The fans, they’ve never done that to me, ever. I started to appreciate so much the people who’ve been with me from the start.”
For that reason, “I wanted to reassess songs that I’d written when I wasn’t in a good place, or I felt like I was too emotional [so] I started singing ‘Never Let Me Go’ again,” she explained. Knowing it was a song adored by fans must have helped sway Welch’s decision to bring it back to the stage after a decade, but even she was stunned by the reaction it received.
Welch added: “It’s really healing for me because it’s really healing for that person that I was. It’s really helped me come back to myself. They [the fans] just sing the chorus for me; I don’t even have to sing it.” With ‘Never Let Me Go’ now proudly back on the setlist where it belongs, it’s a true treat for Florence and the Machine fans to get to hear this tune live, shining in all its glory.
When we talk about the power of music, we often consider it from the audience’s perspective as we feel as though our favourite songs are ultimately made for us. But in many ways, Welch’s honesty gives us a glimpse behind the curtain as to what tunes really mean to the artists who create them and the massive tidal wave of emotion they can harbour. It reminds us that music is not just for the masses but an acutely personal window to the soul as well.
