Album: Dance Fever (2022)
Charted: 51
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Like many of us, the COVID-19 lockdown really threw Florence + the Machine frontwoman Florence Welch. Unable to do the things she loves - going to clubs, dancing, performing on stage – Welch also experienced writer's block, which prevented her from putting her love of music into writing. She wrote this song about her search for a creative outlet in a pandemic era.
  • "My Love" started off as an acoustic "sad little poem" written in Welch's kitchen. As she looked out of her window at the bare winter trees, the singer-songwriter hoped that with spring around the corner, she would soon get inspiration.

    There is nothing to describe
    Except the moon still bright against the worrying sky
    I pray the trees will get their leaves soon


    But with spring came the pandemic. Welch couldn't play her music or socialize, and her friends were catching COVID.

    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


    On the chorus, Welch questions whether she won't have a creative outlet until the pandemic passes.

    So tell me where to put my love
    Do I wait for time to do what it does?
  • Ironically, this song where Welch bemoans her creative standstill became her creative breakthrough. It broke her writer's block and opened the floodgates for the other songs on Dance Fever.
  • Welch recorded the song in London with Glass Animals' Dave Bayley on production duties. When she played him her sad, acoustic demo, Bayley suggested adding synths. He transformed it into an energetic anthem reminiscent of "Nick Cave at the club."

    "Sometimes," Welch told BBC Radio 1's Greg James, "the biggest dance songs, I think, have a really sad core to them."
  • Dave Bayley created a remix titled "My Love (Dave Glass Animals Remix)," which was released on April 1, 2022.

    Bayley described Florence Welch as one of the most authentic artists he's worked with. While producing tracks for Dance Fever, he aimed to respect Welch's strong creative vision, but for the remix he wanted "to sneak out of that world a little and make something as heavy and clubby as possible, while still letting her incredible voice and powerful words sit front and center."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.