Florence Welch

Florence Welch is the vocalist and songwriter indie rock band Florence and the Machines. Florence and the Machine's debut album, Lungs, was released in 2009 on 17 January 2010, the album reached No. 1 in the UK after being on the chart for 28 consecutive weeks. Lungs also won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2010.

The release of Lungs was so hard. It was terrifying, because it was the first time doing everything. The first experiences of media exposure were almost paralysing. I spent a lot of time crying on the floor of the studio - It sent me a bit mad.

I'd gone from being this art student messing about with music to this girl with a record deal, magazine front covers and all this hype. In many ways, it was everything I ever wanted, but when it happened all I felt was total, paralysing fear.

I've spent a lot of time in tiny venues in the way that I got my record deal and got my name out there just performing live. I was literally performing my songs in all kinds of different ways with different guitarists and I didn't have an album up online or anything. It's been a lot of work; it definitely hasn't been a sudden explosion of fame.

The group's second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, debuted at number one in the UK and number six in the US. The band's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful was released in 2015 to positive reviews from critics, and topped the UK and US charts. The band's fourth album High As Hope was released in 2018.

I like the idea of not being afraid of letting your imagination rule you, to feel the freedom of expression, to let creativity be your overwhelming drive than other things. You should have high expectations for yourself and others should come second.

I try to write lyrics so that they won't age, which sort of leaves you with the big subjects like death and love and sex and violence.

I've got my ideal job. I like to sing, I like to dance, I like to bang drums and dress up and someone pays me - it's incredible.

I can't just have one painting, I need to cover the wall in paintings. It's the same with my music. I want to mix everything together to create more.

Having a soul, they say, is like taking sadness and turning it into something beautiful.

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