lelewlovebird

One of my favorites from her and imo much better than the single it was a b-side for One of the best songs on Glassheart and honestly could've been the lead over Trouble (as much as I love Trouble)

I Love You might have worked as a lead (even though I'm not very fond of it) and I guess it's more in line with the more vulnerable image she wanted to have with GL, not to mention the label was going to make sure one of the Max songs was the lead. I do always wonder about songs like Gone and Complete Me though because, if the instrumentals are in fact real, I do think they had potential to be stronger album cuts than songs like 4 Real, Darlin etc. but instead they seemed to make her include the Max songs and Alice which take up a good chunk of the album and kind of changed the vision she had for it.

I've been pleasantly surprised at the way this has grown on me. The Old Religion, You Can Have It All, and Sympathy Magic are immediately added to upper tier Florence for me. I've found that some of the songs I thought were most underwhelming initially like Witch Dance (though I still don't think I love the spoken second verse tbh) and Perfume and Milk have grown on me a lot. I do kind of wish Buckle had a little more kick to it (I saw the interview where she said they tried different production which intrigues me). I do think at times the freeform melodies just take some getting used to but I also have moments on the album where I wish she'd let her voice go wild a bit more. Some of the choruses feel a little bit monotonous because I feel like she's restraining herself, which is interesting because there's other moments where she actually sings out a bit. Overall though, I definitely like it more than Dance Fever at this point and I don't really have any skips.

I've listened a couple more times and it's growing on me a bit, specifically The Old Religion and You Can Have It All. Kraken is the song I think had the most potential to be more, it would be so much better for me if it had a proper chorus or something. I do still wish the melodies and hooks were a bit stronger (I don't really understand those saying we shouldn't be expecting "pop" hooks from Florence considering her early albums are full of them). It's probably above Dance Fever for me but I don't think I can really rank it higher than that atm.

Went on a walk in a wooded area and the fall weather to enhance my first listen and I like it. However it's probably sitting closer to the bottom of her discography for me on first listen unfortunately. Many of the songs feel a little melody-less and I felt like I was starting to predict the way the verses would go when a new song started. It'll probably grow on me a bit but I do feel that starting songs from lyrics is effecting her work the deeper into her career we get. There's lots of moments I really like but it's dragged down a bit. I was also hoping for something with a little more tempo or bite like Just a Girl (which she did with Bowen) but it doesn't really have that lol.

All I Ever Wanted is my favorite of these (though I'm admittedly much more into Kelly and P!nk than Taylor). Visually though, AIEW is pretty lackluster, especially coming off My December's more memorable photoshoot and videos. Also have to shout out TTAL's bonus tracks, especially Is This Thing On.

I like it, though I do have to agree it seems a bit odd to have as a single. There's moments that are a little clunky because they feel like they're cramming in as many lyrics as possible (which I know she's been a bit wordier in her delivery the last couple albums) which takes away from the melody a bit. I do like the build up though even if I wish the song exploded a bit more, and I think the lyrics are good. I'm not super worried about the album even though this and ES aren't connecting with me the same as some of her past work, I like the soundscape she's in so I'm sure something will hit harder for me.

Yeah the outfit does seem like a HB3 reference. I was honestly never that sad to hear about her pivoting away from her original ideas for a third album (and that was confirmed by Which Witch never connecting with me as much as anything else on the album, and HB3 is my favorite of hers) but it could be cool to see her revisit the concept. I'm still hoping for a couple rock-tinged, more uptempo tracks but beyond that I'm here for wherever she takes us.

I assume that this song might be about questioning that if she'd died (since she had life saving surgery), would she be considered "one of the greats", looking back on what she's achieved and her career etc. That could be an interesting angle to approach a somewhat familiar topic lyrically if so but we'll see. Also not sure about the comments about her needing "the machine", the other members are not credited on most of the work. It's one thing if you don't like the direction of the past couple albums but I'm not sure working with Isa or someone else in the band would solve your issue either.

I feel like Avril doing TBDT was fine considering how young she was and the fact that she might've felt like her first two albums were too heavy or something while touring them. GL was an attempt to be more mature again apart from the label demanded songs. After that though I do think she fits this criteria to an extent, it'll be interesting where she goes next because HAW and self titled had moments that suggested a more mature sound but then she capitalized on the pop punk wave and nostalgia for Love Sux. And as a big Avril fan, she's honestly always been a bit of a mixed bag lyrically.

Ceremonials for me, it was the album that got me into Florence whereas Lungs took me like 10 years to fully get into for some reason lol. However I have to agree with everyone saying How Big is her best album, not sure she'll ever top it for me

After having a day to listen to the title track a handful of times, I do like it quite a bit. The intro and outro are highlights, I like the chanty part (prechorus I guess technically?) more than I thought I would when I heard the teaser, the verses are pretty good. The actual "chorus" though feels short to me so I think I'd have made it longer and tbh even though the song is 4 minutes, I feel like it goes by so fast every time I hear it. I am really amped for the album still, and while I'm a little conflicted at this being the first single, I do think it'll make a great album opener and be really fun live. I'm still holding out for some rockier songs on the album and still hoping there's not too much "spooky, witchy" stuff to the point that it starts to feel like a caricature. Honestly I'd still enjoy it probably but I've lowkey never been sad about the scrapped witch concept between Ceremonials and How Big so that's not necessarily what I hope this album will be.

I've only listened through once for the most part but this might be my favorite solo project from her. On first listen though the second half was doing more for me I think. The run from Love Me Different to Disappearing Man had me going a lot more than some of the earlier tracks that I might need a few more listens to fully get. When I saw she was dropping this I hoped there'd be a couple punchier songs and Mirtazapine delivered on that. I really like glum but the vocal effect is gonna take some getting used to lol

I still enjoy the Hey Monday albums, her country stuff is hit or miss for me. I didn't expect the pop punk stuff to last forever since she was young when she started and things change as you get older etc but the country pivot wasn't my favorite lol

My favorite Kelly song from my favorite Kelly album