“Everybody Scream” for Florence + The Machine

By Libby D’Orvilliers

Florence Welch has done it again. She has completely stunned me with yet another flawless album. “Everybody Scream,” the sixth and latest studio album from the band Florence + The Machine, was released on Halloween this year and I was practically screaming in excitement to anyone around me all week prior to listening to it. I am sure that my coworkers were tired of hearing me during my morning shift on Friday as I continually repeated how excited I was to attend a listening party for the release that evening once I clocked out. 

In “Everybody Scream,” Welch has concocted the perfect potion of dynamic notes and enchanting lyrics to create the kind of music that would have put her on trial in the 1600s for suspected witchcraft.

I knew right away from the first teasers of the album on social media that Welch’s ethereal vocals would be a huge selling point of the album. But that almost seems like a given, considering that she could sing the nutrition facts off of a cereal box and still fill me with awe.

Bewitching is one of the first words I would use to describe the new record. I have been so entranced by the 12-track record that, as of the time of writing this, I believe I am currently on my sixth full listen-through of the record. That being said, let me give you some of the highlights of the album to look out for.

My current favorite track from the album is “Music By Men.” This contemplative song truly showcases Welch’s poetic lyrics. In this four and a half minute-long song, Welch elegantly and earnestly acknowledges the complexity of relationships and the role she plays in them with lyrics such as “All the love that came my way, I found a way to push away // I don’t wanna be afraid anymore // I don’t wanna run from love like I had before.” Welch paints gorgeous pictures in her lyricism you cannot help but become fully enveloped by them.

However, the more I listen to the album, “Buckle” is slowly working its way up the ranks to becoming my favorite. Being one of the softer songs on the record, “Buckle” truly showcases Welch’s ability to share such intimate parts of herself in an authentic way that listeners can connect with.

 If you do not listen to the whole album straight through — as I would recommend — you should also make a point of listening to “Kraken;” it is another one of my top favorites with sharp ear-catching lyrics that paint the songstress as not only a witchy figure, but also as a “creature from the deep” that is sure to haunt you — in the best way, of course.

Adding to the witch allegations against Welch are the interwoven feministic themes throughout the album, albeit through a more sardonic lens; more critical of patriarchy than anything else. For example, in the song, “One of The Greats,” the album’s second single and second on the tracklist, Welch belts “so like a woman to profit from her madness // I was only beautiful under the lights, only powerful there” and “you’ll say it’s all pretend // That I could never be great being held up against such male tastes” in a reflective reference to how she feels as a woman in the music industry. Welch truly knows how to assert her place and throw a lyrical punch at those who try to keep her down.

Florence + The Machine will always hold a special place in my heart primarily because the first concert, that I paid for with my own money, was for Florence + The Machine’s “High as Hope” album tour in Miami back in 2019. I love that album and it is one of my favorite records of all time. That being said, after years of listening to and resonating with that softer album, it was so refreshing to hear “Everybody Scream.” In this latest album, I feel empowered to finally yell out all my frustrations with being soft and melancholic alongside the artist. Welch knew it was time for a radical takeover in her music to reflect the radical frustration so many of her fans are feeling.

This dynamic shift is only improved by the way “Everbody Scream” seems to be in direct conversation with “High as Hope.” For example, the eighth track on “Everybody Scream,” “The Old Religion” seems to correspond to “Hunger” from “High as Hope.” I will not go into detail on how the two songs compare, so as to encourage you to give them a listen for yourself, just know that you will be pleasantly surprised with how well they pair.

 The two records are almost like a “before-and-after” photograph. “High as Hope” has a sense of loneliness and contemplative hopefulness that “Everybody Scream” seems to respond to with it’s more carefree resignedness that seems to say “what will be will be” therefore we might as well just scream out. Where “High as Hope” showed Welch struggling with a sense of longing, “Everybody Scream” shows her fully embracing the tumultuous nature of life. Welch has sonically captured the essence of coming into her own and being OK with all her power, flaws included. 

Fiery and full of female fury, as wild as it may sound, “Everybody Scream” is my new favorite comfort album. Florence + The Machine gave me their magic potion and I gladly drank it up.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go register for presale tickets for the album tour.

Libby D’Orvilliers is a senior psychology major