Writer’s block: Every writer’s worst enemy. In this catchy single from her upcoming album Dance Fever, Florence captures the crippling feeling of having emotions and ideas to share but not the words to share them. She expresses the anxiety associated with change and loss — all while making us dance.
I was always able to write my way out / The song always made sense to me / Now I find that when I look down / Every page is empty
We’ve all felt this. I felt it a little while writing this article. It’s that moment you realize the cursor on your word document is still blinking with no progress made. You start to remember all the times a story flowed out of you, but now the well has run dry. You start to question your skill. Have you lost your spark? It’s a jarring headspace to be in.
To make matters worse, even if she did have the correct words she wouldn’t have an audience to share them with. According to a press release that accompanied the announcement of the project, Dance Fever was recorded mid-pandemic in the midst of quarantining and social distancing. Due to this, I’m sure Florence was unable to access the same creative outlets she had in the past, which left her feeling alienated. Where could she go now to stimulate her creativity? Where could she go to share her work and collaborate with fellow creatives?
So tell me where to put my love / Do I wait for time to do what it does?
Florence’s love is the music she creates. It’s her lyrics, her vocals and all of her creations. The pandemic brought about a feeling of separation that we had not seen in our lifetime. In this line, Florence is questioning what to do with all of this bottled up creativity and wondering how long the current state of things will last.
We can all relate to having this feeling at some point during the pandemic. Many of us were unable to express love or receive love in the ways we are used to, and were left wondering if things would ever be the same.
And when it came, it was stranger than I had ever imagined / No cracking open of Heaven / But quiet and still (All my friends are getting ill)
Even when Florence finally cracks the code, she doesn’t get the satisfaction she thought she would. Due to what is going on in the world around her, finding the right words doesn’t feel like this euphoric, a-ha moment. She simply writes the lines down and keeps it pushing. The world is still sick, and she eerily reminds us that people close to her are being affected by the virus.
“My Love” is the type of song you scream at the top of your lungs, letting all your pent up energy run through you and out of you. Florence’s angelic vocals make the listeners’ hair stand on end while the disco beat makes you get up and move. In the aforementioned press release, it was revealed that the piece was originally intended to be an emotional, low energy, acoustic song. However, Glass Animals’ producer Dave Bayley had the idea of adding synth and the rest was history. “My Love” is the go-to song for feeling frustrated and stuck. The lyrics validate those angsty feelings while the melody soothes them.
