Songfacts®:

• The term "fly girl" was popularized in the 1990s as a slang term for a woman who is stylish, confident, and attractive. It was commonly associated with the hip-hop and R&B culture of the time and was often used to describe dancers or performers who had a distinctive style and flair. The term has since evolved and now refers to a super cool chick who's got it going on. The kind of girl who turns heads wherever she goes and leaves everyone wanting more.
  
  Here, Flo join forces with American rapper Missy Elliott for a vibrant song about a girl who is the ultimate embodiment of awesomeness.
  
  "'Fly Girl' is all about confidence, good vibes and feeling your best. It's a lively, feel good song that still incorporates clever lyrics and fire vocals, if we do say so ourselves," said Flo of the song. "It's quite literally a perfect fusion of old school meets modern day R&B, with a nod to and feature from the original fly girl Missy Elliott herself. We love it and are so happy to be putting out a song that can hopefully make whoever plays it feel confident and most importantly, fly."
• Missy Elliott is one of Flo's heroes. "She's like the blueprint female rapper and not even just rapper like beyond that like icon, production, all of that stuff," they told BBC Radio 1's Sian Eleri. "She's really influenced like R&B. So had to get her on the song like what the hell could then have anyone else is not right. We were in the same FaceTime does literally playing it through FaceTime. And then we were like, obviously panicking because it was like, oh my god, we're finally listening to this. And then we heard her do the booty booty everywhere."
• Missy previously sang of being a fly girl on her 1999 single "Hot Boyz."
  
  I'll cook boy, I'll give you more
  I'ma fly girl, and I like those
  Hot boyz
• Flo's Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer and Stella Quaresma co-wrote "Fly Girl" alongside Missy Elliott, MNEK and Jvck James. British producer MNEK worked on many of Little Mix' hits, including "Wings," "Touch" and "Sweet Melody." He also co-produced Flo's debut single, "Cardboard Box."
  
  JVCK James is a singer-songwriter from London. His single "No Drama" was listed in Complex UK's "Best Songs of 2021."
  
  Kamille, Joe Gosling, Ryan Ashley, Tré Jean-Marie, WhYJay, Corte Ellis, D.M.C., Jamal Woon, Rev Run, and Rico Santana also helped with the songwriting.
• The vibrant song interpolates Missy Elliott's "Work It." MNEK and Jvck James came up with the idea to sample the 2002 hit. Specifically, the girls use the part where Missy tells all the fly gals to get pampered and dolled up.
  
  If you a fly gal, get your nails done
  Get a pedicure, get your hair did
  
  Flo's song is all about celebrating independent women who don't need a man to have a good time. It's a totally different vibe from Missy's track, where she's trying to get close to a shady dude. So, if you're a fly girl, get ready to party and do your thing without needing a man by your side!
• Blondie's Chris Stein and Debbie Harry also get songwriting credits because "Work It" contains elements of the New York band's "Heart Of Glass."
• It took some work to get the song just right in various sessions. Flo did some of the verses in LA and pulled in another bit for the ending in another session. But the result is a dope track celebrating independent women who don't need a man to have a good time.
• MNEK handled the production with LiTek and WhyJay. Manchester-based producers LiTek, and WhyJay are frequent Aitch and ArrDee collaborators.
• Directed by former Beyoncé dancer Tajana Tokyo, the video features the three Flo girls hosting a club party, to which Missy Elliott turns up.