Florence + The Machine uses her voice to scream

‘Florence + The Machine’ released their sixth album “Everybody Scream” on Oct. 31, 2025. The album is full of vocals, not just from Florence Welch’s throat, but her heart and soul. In August of 2023, Florence Welch, lead singer of the band, experienced a troubling miscarriage and needed surgery. The traumatic and emotional event led to her channeling her feelings into the album, which she named “Everybody Scream.” Welch said in an interview with Apple Music that there was urgency to the record. 

“It came out to me in a furious burst,” Welch said.

The album starts off with the title song, “Everybody Scream,” which flows from a soft harmony with organs into a primal and baroque pop melody. Welch begins with the lyrics “Get on stage, and I call her by her first name/Try to stay away, but I’ll always meet back at this place,” which could have been a reference to Welch’s miscarriage back in 2023, which inspired the album. 

The post chorus is such an important part of the song, as it ties into the emotional rollercoaster of the song and album. In this song, she sounds almost devastated or ashamed of herself. In the song, Welch leads into it with, “But look at me, run myself ragged / Blood on the stage/ but how can I leave you when you’re screaming my name?” 

I get chills from how distraught she sounds, this is the part that you can tell Welch is heartbroken over the loss of a child as most soon-to-be mothers would be.

“One of the Greats” is another song that holds a lot of emotions. Welch goes into the song with the lyrics, “I crawled up from under the earth/broken nails and coughin’ dirt / Spittin’ out my songs so you could sing along.” 

It seems as Welch is talking about even in her darkest moments, she still produces music to please her die hard fans. The idea is backed up about midway through the song, with lyrics “It must be nice to be a man and make borin’ music just because you can,” as some artists, mainly male artists, can produce music that took little to no thought and still get millions of listeners while smaller artists produce music with lots of thought into it and get a few listeners a month.

The fourth song on the album is “Sympathy Magic,” which is my personal favorite of them all. The track starts with a melody from the guitar and possibly other instruments, and flows into what reminds me of windchimes with the way the melody seems to bounce off of each other. Welch starts the intro with the lyrics, “Memory fails me, names and faces blur/There is only after or before/Am I so different, have I changed/ I do not recognize my face.” 

People who may struggle with PTSD and traumatic events can develop identity issues and can change how the person views the world. With Welch’s traumatic surgery and miscarriage, it seems as though she’s describing how she does not seem to recognize herself anymore from how emotional she has been from it. 

In her first verse, Welch sings, “Chewing on a feeling / and spitting it out. / Crushed in a ballgown / Anxious and ashamed.” It connects with the other lyrics as Welch is possibly talking about her holding onto her emotions and trying to get rid of them. The anxious and ashamed part may be Welch mentioning how stressful her procedure must have been and how she possibly felt nervous to talk about it as it is a heavy topic for some people. 

In the chorus she sings, “I do not find worthiness a virtue. I no longer try to be good. It didn’t keep me safe / Like you told me it would.” Welch could be mentioning how she does not seem to feel as though her wealth and fame is anything special to her anymore. With her fame, having any private or social life is very hard to get, and safety may not be fully guaranteed.

 Ultimately, the album is worth listening to. It’s very emotional and heavy, something that can be difficult for artists to create. I would rate the album five out of five stars as every song feels like there is a lot of thought put into it and not just a cash grab and for replays on the radio.