Robert Plant’s favourite song from 2025: “This song has taken me by storm”
When you think of a quintessential male rockstar, a few historic figures come to mind. There is of course Mick Jagger, colourfully prancing around on stage or maybe Rod Stewart, who refrains from the on stage movement to instead ramp the lyrical sexuality up to 10. Then there is Robert Plant who sits somewhere in between those two.
Plant was the poster boy for 1970s charm. His voice was talented and far reaching, allowing him to keep up with his Led Zeppelin bandmates that took music into grander regions, and his charisma was captivating, ensuring every performance was delivered with unbridled charm and allure.
He set out a blueprint that would be shoddily reinterpreted in the following decades. Whether it be in the hair-metal days of the 1980s or artists from the modern day, who are eluding irony while trying to capture something nostalgic. Either way, what he has done, is given credence to a cohort of masculine artists who believe to can seemingly get away with what they want.
Mediocrity is hidden in elaborate hairdos and overt hip thrusts, simply because that is what one of the greats from yesteryear did. It’s an attitude that has developed into a wider scale cancer within the contemporary music scene, and one that Florence And The Machine rather brilliantly called out in her most recent single ‘One Of The Greats’.
“It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can” serves as one of the standout lyrics within the song, making Welch’s point plain and clear. When discussing the song she elaborated, explaining to The Guardian, “You [male performers] get to be up there and be hot in a T-shirt, and everyone’s like, it’s amazing!”
She continued, explaining the different standards women are measured by: “Your body is the show, the clothes are the show.” That continues into societal roles, she adds, explaining how many of her male counterparts can enjoy the privilege of children and a career, “because they have a partner with the kids at home. What I’m sacrificing to keep going is more apparent, and bigger, as you get older.” She continued, “I will get those things, hopefully. I will get to have a family, but I haven’t had both. Or so far I haven’t, and then when I tried, I was sort of violently rebuffed.”
While the aforementioned line and others – “It’s funny how men don’t find power very sexy” represent a wider point Welch is making. It’s still a deeply personal track, pulling upon her own experiences to frame just how warped the societal view of female musicians is. So it’s rather ironic then, that Plant himself, revered Welch’s defiant new track while remarking his confusion as to what inspired it.
“This song has taken me by storm” he said, adding “I mean, I have no idea what she’s dealing with here but I can relate to it with every single iota of my energy.”
A deeper dig from Plant might be necessary, for he himself represents part of the problems Welch’s faces. Because while society might not want to admit it, Florence Welch, the female great, is carving a legacy just as iconic as Plant’s.
