Florence Welch admits quitting booze "helped" her write her last album ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’.
The Florence + the Machine frontwoman – who went through emotional agony after splitting from events worker James Nesbitt in 2013 – was advised by a friend to stop drinking to help get her life back on track following the split and she feels that cutting back on partying and drinking allowed her creative juices to flow when making the band’s third studio album, which dealt with her personal struggles.
Asked what the best advice she’s received was, Florence, 29, said: "When I got off tour a few years ago, I tried to keep living as I had been. You want to keep the party going, but you’re just in your own house. I was like, ‘Oh, my life is in chaos, and my relationships are so messed up. What am I doing?’ A friend said, ‘Why don’t you try not drinking for a while – see what happens?’ [Laughs] I was willing to try anything at that point. It definitely helped me write my last record."
The ‘You’ve Got The Love’ hitmaker also admits the record was "exposing" and she felt close to tears making it because the producer wanted her vocals to be raw without any fancy affects.
After she got over feeling "uncomfortable", Florence thinks being thrown into that awkward situation allowed her to grow as an artist.
She told Rolling Stone magazine: "If something feels different, or uncomfortable, it means you’re growing. My last album was quite exposing. Not having effects on my vocals was terrifying. I would ask my producer, ‘Please, can you just put some reverb on?’ I was nearly crying. He was like, ‘No, you have to just let your voice be the way it is. You have to be vulnerable.’"
The flame-haired beauty recently debuted a musical film ‘The Odyssey’, which was about "the car crash of a relationship break-up" she went through with James and she said making it allowed her to "understand and exorcise" the emotions she felt after the couple, who dated for just over a year, parted ways.
Florence Welch: Quitting booze helped me write last album
