Dark Pop Queen FLØRE blossoms anew with her second EP Romaniac
“Sometimes the most beautiful things make you the most lonely,” sings FLØRE in her title track “Another year like that and we’d all be dead,” released on her new EP this month. The aphorism cannot be any truer in the case of the young artist, whose music is so enchanting with her piercing tone, poignant lyricism, and electro pop rhythms.
While fairly new to the indie scene, FLØRE has established her reputation as the Dark Pop Queen—a fitting title what with her somber sound, lyrics on pain and vulnerability, and gothic style, which are distinctive and haunting.
Having been able to speak with her personally, I would best describe FLØRE as a bewitching paradox. Her artistic persona “Romaniac,” which is also the name of her latest EP, a dark and scorned woman, is the exact opposite of the modest and sweet, young lady I got to speak with one dark, dreary afternoon.
The name FLØRE was taken from her obsession with flowers. “My grandmother’s maiden name, when translated, is flower. And I’ve always been drawn to flowers. When I was younger, I owned at least 50 floral dresses. I love even the word,” intimates the German singer. She then holds out her freshly inked arm, showing her new tattoo of a black English rose.
As the saying goes, “life is not a bed of roses, but a bed of thorns,” the indie-pop artist was met with the reality of life. “After my first heartbreak, I started to wear black,” she says. And so, FLØRE, the black English rose, was born. During her debut in 2018, she was labeled by The Line Of Best Fit, an independent London-based online magazine, as a “dark pop brilliance of Flowered Guts.”
“The aesthetic, lyrics, and themes are pretty dark. But there’s always hope in it,” FLØRE points out about her songs. Her musical career was influenced by Taylor Swift, and other indie artists like Daughter and Aurora.
The new EP is focused on the shadow side of love. That love can make you go crazy and can bring dark thoughts in you. FLØRE goes through each of her five songs in the mini-album.
“Sometimes you write songs as therapy. It just needs to be done. And ‘Another year like that and we’d all be dead’ is that song for me,” muses the 25-year-old musician. “I cannot sum it up in a single sentence. It deals with a lot of things.” In essence, the song revolves around “humanity,” of the paradox of being human. It is best abridged by its chorus, “When will my life begin? No one taught me how to be human. I hurt the ones I love the most, ’cause I’m scared of being left alone.”
“Deadboys” is about a secret killer’s fantasy. “It’s like: How dare you want to leave me? I wish I could trust you, but only the dead cannot lie. I think I need to kill you now, to be with you,” says FLØRE.
“Bad Medicine” delves on toxic relationships that one couldn’t do away with. On its release as a single, the song got included in Germany’s Radio Top 200 charts. Meanwhile, following the song is “Cigarettes,” which is an example of a bad medicine. “Smoking is romanticized in movies, or pictures. But you know it’s bad for you,” says the rising star. So, the latter talks about the deeper and more addictive side of a toxic relationship.
While fairly new to the indie scene, FLØRE has established her reputation as the Dark Pop Queen—a fitting title what with her somber sound, lyrics on pain and vulnerability, and gothic style, which are distinctive and haunting.
The last one, “Our Funeral,” is a breakup song. “I imagine it like a reverse wedding, the end of a relationship. We dress up and welcome our end,” she explains.
“I’m always inspired by the pain. I always write when there is nothing else left, or when I have a feeling which I cannot deal with. Like a deep heart break, which I don’t know how to process,” says FLØRE of her artistic process.
After she writes her own lyrics, she creates a demo version on her iPad, and sends it to her producer Antonia Rug, known in the music industry as Novaa. “It’s a two-girl setup. I’m grateful for her , for expanding and bringing my visions to life,” says FLØRE. She is likewise, relieved that the production process of music was unaffected by the pandemic.
As for the artwork, FLØRE made the cover on the last day. “I think it represents the character, Dark Queen well. She wears her pain like precious pearls, and has this crown. She has thorns coming out of her, like a rose. It’s elegant and strong, because of the heartbreaks she’s been through.”
Among her achievements, FLØRE is part of Spotify’s RADAR program that introduces a global community of fans to breakout artists who are transforming genres. She recently played her first global live stream show on Amazon Music Session, and played her first live show at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg back in September.
@listentoflore