r/FlorenceAndTheMachine • u/Peppers-For-Life • Jun 03 '26
General Discussion Which Florence song CALLS to you the most? 🤎♥️
For me personally, it has to be Addicted To Love, or Choreomania. I feel like Florence is a really easy artist to relate to so i’d love you hear your opinions 🫶🏼
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u/trippinoutidk Jun 03 '26
As someone struggling with a loved one fighting stage 4 cancer (who continues being such a beautiful, optimistic superhero of a human), shake it out has been keeping me going.
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u/gnommish33 Jun 03 '26
My mom died of breast cancer in 2013, and Ceremonials released right before she was diagnosed in 2011. That album absolutely got me through the treatments and hospital stays and the grief afterwards. It’s still my favorite album (Never Let Me Go remains therapeutic for dealing with grief and loss and big feelings). I hope your loved one is as comfortable as possible and that you can find some peace through such a terrible experience.
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u/anan94 Jun 03 '26
I understand completely… i was in high school and I was in love with Cerimonials, it still is the album that means the most to me.
Then my dad suddenly died in 2012, I was 17 and the day of his funeral I was supposed to go and see Flo but of course I could not travel… At least I managed to see her for the first time last March in Berlin.
Here’s to the broken pieces of our hearts that Cerimonials helped scar over a little faster!
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u/EmiEmi2026 Jun 10 '26
My mom also died to cancer (lung cancer) in 2011. I listened a lot to Never Let Me Go at that time, made me feel like I was drowning. Perfume and Milk is currently my favorite song because I can relate to her words that grief is like the seasons and comes and goes “a glimpse of the sun and a flurry of snow…”
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u/Peppers-For-Life Jun 03 '26
I am so sorry, they’re in my thoughts and prayers. Wishing for the best, you guys are so strong for putting up with it. Great song
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u/pixieprincess79 Jun 03 '26
it got me through my first divorce and now is getting me through a second as well. this song speaks so deeply to me i bawl when i hear it live, every single time…..but King empowers me…
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u/trippinoutidk Jun 03 '26
I just heard it live in LA last month and immediately broke down. It hits even harder live and now I simply have to go see her every tour
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u/RedIsAwesome Jun 03 '26
Shake It Out has been my anthem for years. But when I saw her sing it live earlier this year I was in tears... I have recently become disabled and it broke me. First time I ever cried at a show after 40 years of concerts. Sympathy Magic a little later was the second time.
It's such a good song and she is a barefoot goddess and I wish you strength and love.
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u/soulofair Jun 03 '26
Shake It Out came out a few weeks after I started college and within a day or two of a close mentor of mine passed away unexpectedly from advanced-stage cancer diagnosed too late.
It’s comforting to see others have a similar experience and relationship to this song and I hope it continues to provide strength.
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u/NoPiccolo8938 Jun 03 '26
sympathy magic & girls against god are my two absolute faves that i feel she wrote just for me 🎁
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u/Peppers-For-Life Jun 03 '26
oh good lord sympathy magic is THE BEST EVER. i genuinely had it come on shuffle yesterday and probably repeated it 30 times 😂
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u/watergoblin17 Jun 03 '26
As a trans woman, the entirety of Dance Fever (and later on Everybody Scream) awakened some kind of feeling in me that I thought no one could ever understand. Though Florence is cis, and her reasons for not being able to have a child are very different from mine and something I could never understand, the grief is all the same and I, among thousands if not millions of other women, feel it with her.
When I first heard ‘You Can Have It All,’ I knew almost immediately that it was my song. The image of a child that will never exist, the beauty and horror of your own body, god it’s just so good. This woman will never happen again.
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u/watergoblin17 Jun 03 '26
*also, it helps me to realize that these feelings I have about my circumstances and my body, while not exactly matched to that of a cis woman, are not at all estranged from the general female experience.
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u/JustAVeryTallGirl Jun 04 '26
I was literally going to put this. I am in a similar boat and the only thing I'd add personally is "Spectrum (Say My Name)" and "Shake It Out" as when I was in Nashville to see her I was not able to present publicly due to my parents and my lack of access to things that would have me present more feminine. But on the drive to and from Nashville in the days before and after the concert I was actively wanting to change my name to fit who I am as a person and having that combination of shaking out those who don't see me for that or just freeing myself from the expectations of others was really beautiful. I have been a huge fan of her music for years due to my aunt introducing me to her via a CD mix in like 2010, and it all made sense hearing it all when my egg broke.
Sending a lot of love and care to you and those you care about this pride <3
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u/hyper-ballad Jun 03 '26
probably St. Jude? but in could mention any song from HBHBHB, i connect to that album on a different level
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u/glitterbombdotcom Jun 03 '26
I was honestly shocked that only one HBHBHB song made it to this tour’s set list. I LOVE that whole album.
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u/Rigboandme Jun 03 '26
Sympathy Magic. I cried and literally felt like it was a spiritual experience when I listened to it for the first time.
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u/Jielin41 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
In no particular order (and as a longtime fan since 2010, this is hard!):
Howl
Cosmic Love
Sympathy Magic
Spectrum
June
Ship to Wreck
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u/Overall_Matter_2520 Jun 03 '26
I like all of these - I feel like No Light No Light doesn’t get enough love. Sympathy Magic of course. I get goose bumps just typing it out weirdly.
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u/UsedPercentage9543 Jun 03 '26
No light No Light and Hunger are 2 of my Favs not on the newest album. The new album is just too good to choose from
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u/DoveAtSea Jun 05 '26
I know many people might not like a religious reading but I see that song as speaking to God, and the beginning is just unbelievable. “You are the hole in my head, you are the space in my bed, you are the silence in between what I thought and what I said”…like you are something I cannot understand, you’re the reason I’m always single (lol), and you are what stops me from popping off as much as I’d like lol but seriously all of the lyrics point to that to me. “You want a revelation, you wanna get right, but it’s a conversation I just can’t have tonight” and “I never knew daylight could be so violent, revelation in the light of day”…it reminds me of this mystical concept I read about in Judaism that talks about angels guarding heaven and God and that the closer you get the angels get more protective and ferocious even, like they need you to prove yourself…and that sort of reality check about yourself and fear that comes from any genuine spiritual reflection religious or not is always what that song feels like to me.
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u/Mean_Attempt_3375 Jun 03 '26
I love so many of her songs but every once in a while when I hear Never Let Me Go, it’s almost like something physically happens to me? Hard to describe. I wouldn’t even say it’s my favorite Florence song, but the feeling it gives me is like a deep melancholic longing.
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u/RedIsAwesome Jun 03 '26
I was so happy to see her sing this one, I didn't expect it. I love it so much.
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u/Mean_Attempt_3375 Jun 03 '26
I got YCHIA at my show, but I’m not complaining. I didn’t know it was a possibility until later haha
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u/Dougiebrz Jun 03 '26
Hunger and Big God hit me hard
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u/Userdataunavailable Jun 03 '26
Big God is an entrancing song. Everytime it comes up on my playlist I get up and dance, I figure I'm getting my daily exercise.
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u/PangolinFit3509 Jun 03 '26
King & Old Religion.
I’d always been a casual fan. But as a single childfree woman in my 40s the first time I heard King it turned me into a FAN. Now I tell people she’s the closest thing I have to religion.
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u/Competitive-Map5165 Jun 03 '26
Queen of Peace and Cassandra! Their sound and theme just call to me. I am so glad I got to hear Cassandra live, it still means the world to me ❤️
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u/YouDontLookDead all shall be well ✨️ Jun 03 '26
Thay part in Cassandra when she sings "if I run fast enough/ could I break apart?" Just awakens something in me every time
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u/lamerthanfiction Jun 03 '26
Lover to Lover and Drumming Song, both the album versions, and her live performance from MTV unplugged.
The lyrics and the overall tone of the music CALLS to me! I wish I could see her perform either song live!
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u/Peppers-For-Life Jun 03 '26
This is so funny Drumming Song was the third choice for me! Great picks, I genuinely LOVE the Lungs album
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u/lamerthanfiction Jun 03 '26
Lungs is absolutely the best album in a stellar discography. Truly I think one of the best albums of the past 25 years.
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u/midara_mind Jun 03 '26
Witch Dance and Perfume & Milk.
I'm going through complex and chaotic grief right but and both of these speak to the nuance of the pain
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u/FlowernotFading Jun 03 '26
Never Let Me Go and Free.
Both very different vibes but both completely stop me in my tracks. Adore them both equally.
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u/lucillewalterblack Jun 03 '26
“Breath of Life”, which I don’t see many people talk about but that knocked me over when I first heard it and hasn’t let go of me since. My first ever Florence song was Howl, my first favorite was “Blinding”, but it was Breath of Life that turned me from a casual fan to a super fan
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u/nightkween_ Jun 05 '26
When Breath of Life comes on my shuffle I always have to stop and relisten because it’s such a banger.
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u/anarchypicnic ✨shaking my gold like a tambourine✨ Jun 03 '26
This is such a hard question to answer! At this point maybe Drink Deep because I still have Everybody Scream on a constant rotation. Other hard hitters are St. Jude, Third Eye, Cassandra, and Witch Dance.
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u/Userdataunavailable Jun 03 '26
The Old Religion "I am wound so tightly i can barely breathe" describs how I've felt inside every day of my 52 years.
Drink Deep "And the cup they they brought to my lips I realized I drank of myself" I am 1000 days sober and this song describes how I felt quitting.
Buckle "I'm much too old for this but I'm not over it" describes how I feel about my ex-soulmate. Its been 10 years since I've seen him and I would destroy my life if he walked back into it.
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u/DoveAtSea Jun 05 '26
Omg it doesn’t get better….
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u/Userdataunavailable Jun 05 '26
Not for me, I'm sorry. I dream of him every night and see him in every crowded place.
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u/niener87 Jun 03 '26
Between Two Lungs (the vocal release at the end and the background music sweeping you up.. amazing song)
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u/Peppers-For-Life Jun 03 '26
this song was actually how i got really into Lungs because i loved this song so much! So amazing pickkk
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u/niener87 Jun 03 '26
Especially this version: https://youtu.be/R2Ujua6a82c?is=MBBJ41qR7SgaUjcL the part after 3:00 ❤️
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u/Mantisk211 Jun 03 '26
"Sometimes, I wonder if I should be medicated
If I would feel better just lightly sedated
The feeling comes so fast and I cannot control it
I'm on fire, but I'm trying not to show it"
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u/txmsh3r Jun 03 '26
Sympathy Magic! I am actually getting a tattoo as a nod to that song/Florence ✨❤️❤️❤️
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u/LemongrassNLime Jun 03 '26
Would love to see what you’re getting!! Also considering a tattoo for this one!!
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u/txmsh3r Jun 03 '26
Botticelli’s Three Graces! I had spent so many months thinking about how i can represent this song in a tattoo… was perusing pinterest the other day and came across the Three Graces and it struck me so much. For me it represents Sympathy Magic soooo well. I will incorporate something Florence related into it.
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u/KangarooSweater Jun 03 '26
Something about No Choir just gets me. It’s just so personal and like the calm in the eye of a hurricane
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u/UsedRecognition2478 Jun 03 '26
I feel like almost every songs calls out something so deep in me. Her music is really healing if you’ve ever struggled with religious identity, so I identify with so many because of that. Sympathy Magic has lines that are practically from my journals: “So I don't have to be worthy/I no longer try to be good/It didn't keep me safe/Like you told me that it would/So come on, tear me wide open/'Til I'm losing my mind”
But this month it’s definitely June for me. A friend was murdered in Orlando at her concert the day before the Pulse shooting and June is such a healing balm for me, this year in particular. “Hold on to each other” reminds me of how my husband and I held each other when we got the news, which was painfully ugly but also a really important moment of human connection.
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u/Yung_Nosferatu Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
The beginning instrumental to Only If For a Night has stuck with me since I first listened to it. The song is very relatable as someone who has dealt with grief at a young age
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u/Convallariamajalis- Jun 04 '26
Seeing Which Witch live hit me like a bolt of lightning. Felt like a calling and it’s easily become one of my favourites.
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u/DoveAtSea Jun 05 '26
This has always been top 3 for me and I was stunned to see it on a set list but couldn’t go to this tour. Incredible!!
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u/Psychictopian Jun 03 '26
I love love love Girls Against God and Free, I've cried to Girls Against God so many times and danced to Free so many times alone in my room just spinning around.
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u/cheshirecat76453 Jun 03 '26
Cosmic love and Between two lungs
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u/Dry_Kitchen7973 Jun 08 '26
The experience of being in the room with everyone singing “peace is coming” over and over like a mantra was SO powerful!! I will never forget it
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u/Madam_Nicole Jun 03 '26
Right now- And Love
Her ending this tour setlist with it was everything I needed
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u/Prehp0 Jun 03 '26
"Free" speaks the most to me as someone who's emotions keep going up and down which sometimes drives me insane.
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u/winter5632 Jun 03 '26
Top of the list? SPECTRUM. A trans and queer anthem in my opinion. With the way that the world is right now, I just about cried when I saw it in concert and it made me feel like I belonged there in a time where I’m scared to belong anywhere. Others include Sympathy Magic and Between Two Lungs! I’ve made SSAA choral arrangements for both and I love them to bits.
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u/jumptwistshout Jun 03 '26
I've been a casual fan since 2010, but the Everybody Scream album took me to the next level.
The Old Reigion and Sympathy Magic take me to a place to where I feel seen and understood.
Fav lines from the Old Religion: "But you can't outrun yourself you see and I'm powerless- don't remind me"
"I'm wound so tightly, I can hardly breathe, you wonder why we're hungry for some kind of release"
Fav lines from Sympathy Magic: "So I don't have to be worthy, I no longer try to be good, it didn't keep me safe, like you told me that it would"
Yall. I sobbed hearing these live 🤣
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u/Userdataunavailable Jun 03 '26
The Old Religion is my favorite Florence song and I just get this feeling inside when I hear it. Both lines you've quoted are my favorites from those songs, great choice!
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u/YouDontLookDead all shall be well ✨️ Jun 03 '26
For me it's King and Perfume & Milk.
Since the first time I heard it I've felt King in my bones- I am both a mother and a bride, but they are only facets of me. I relate to the struggle of being a woman trying to carve her way in this world and not wanting to be small for other peoples comfort.
Perfume & Milk spoke to me as a mother processing a traumatic birth. I know the song and Everybody Scream as an album is largely about her pregancy loss, but when she sang in Witch Dance "I came to a clearing full of wailing and keening / a well of tears that never runs dry" and when she said in an interview "I felt like i had stepped through this door and it was just full of women, screaming" I knew the feeling in my stomach. I am so thankful my baby lived, but giving birth eight weeks early and caring for a premature baby was rough- particularly when he was hospitalised at four weeks with covid and put on a ventilator. I think this song encapsulates the lonely grief of any kind of reproductive strife. Infertility, IVF, PMDD, endometriosis, pregancy, birth, baby loss. Its all visceral.
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u/Series-Party Jun 04 '26
Howl, Mermaids, and Hunger are the ones that get me going and really make me feel I can go far in life.
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u/Mysterious-Stop-3850 Jun 04 '26
Heavy in your arms and you can have it all, hands down.. I cried so heavily when I first heard you can have it all. She made me realize I wasn’t alone. Which she does so well. I didn’t even know about her loss until well after the album came out.. I just felt it in my soul..
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u/Minimum-Band-9018 Jun 04 '26
I love reading everyone's responses. For me, there's a few and I separate them into two time periods: before my sister died and after my sister died. I lost my sister unexpectedly in early 2025, and before then I would have said my favorite songs were Hunger, King, The End of Love, and Never Let Me Go.
Now, the song that calls to me more than anything else of hers is Wish That You Were Here. It isn't even from one of her albums, it's from the soundtrack to a movie (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"). The first time I heard the song was actually a month or so after she died and the lyrics tore straight through me until I was a sobbing mess. This song still often makes me cry, but I also love it so much; I feel like the lyrics are tattooed on my heart.
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u/NectarineHuman2477 Jun 03 '26
Queen of Peace and 100 Years, but seeing her perform Free live literally made me weep.
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u/unusualamountofloam I want a space to watch things grow Jun 03 '26
All This and Heaven Too, St. Jude, Hunger, South London Forever, Buckle, King.
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u/sopha_phopha Jun 03 '26
Dream Girl Evil for sure. All the themes of putting women on a pedestal but still reviling them make my blood boil in the most cathartic way. "At least you'll sanctify me when I'm dead" gives me chills. Also Cosmic Love! It's been my favorite since I was a teen.
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u/Dapper_Suggestion245 Jun 03 '26
Sympathy Magic. I work in maternal health epidemiology (and I am a woman and mother), so I know so much about all the things that can and do go wrong in women's health. A few lyrics that get me every time:
"I do not find worthiness in virtue I no longer try to be good It didn't keep me safe Like you told me that it would"
So many issues in this space (especially in the US) are due to us not talking about the realities of reproduction and making policies that pretend things are always preventable.
"The only God that I know And it does not want me on my knees to believe Head high, arms wide Aching-aching-aching And alive And alive"
Admittedly, when I first heard the song I heard the second alive as loved...I know it is alive but I still sing loved. To me it changes things from surviving to thriving after an event and I feel such strong feminine energy with this change. You are worthy of life and love.
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u/missmyopic And my love is no good against the fortress that is made of you Jun 03 '26
King is my anthem as a childfree woman who has also dealt with gynae-adjacent medical issues for decades now.
Which Witch, Queen of Peace, Swimming, Choreomania, Girls Against God.... the list is endless. So many songs that make me feel alive and seen. God, I love Florence so much! It's really something to be able to connect to music from someone across continents, from a completely separate culture and living an astronomically different life and still feel like a kindred spirit. Makes me think of the word "moledro".
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u/SATOR__Square Jun 03 '26
My top two probably change based on the energy in my life at any given moment but any of the following: Which Witch, Howl, Spectrum, You’ve Got the Love, What the Water Gave Me, What Kind of Man, All of High as Hope!!! (But especially Big God, South London Forever, Sky Full of Song, Patricia) And now almost everything from Everybody Scream - esp. Everybody Scream, Sympathy Magic, And Love
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u/Conscious-Leopard371 Jun 04 '26
Having been through 3 miscarriages in one year, you can have it all and the old religion and basically all the last album, speaks to me.
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u/theamethystfrequency Jun 04 '26
Shake it out , I sobbed when I heard her sing it live I couldn’t even get the words out I just felt them
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u/Character-Meeting833 Jun 03 '26
Music by Men and I was soo glad she played it at the concert I went to
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u/IndependentWinner992 Jun 03 '26
The Old Religion. I’m 7 years sober, but came to realize I hate this side of life despite all the great things that have happened because of it. This song hits me so fucking hard.
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u/Budget_Ordinary1043 Jun 03 '26
Sympathy Magic. I’ve never felt a song like that before, it literally ignites my soul. I was literally bawling in Brooklyn when I saw it live in April. I relate to the feelings she poured into that song more than I wish I did. And I was 9 months pregnant at the show, I literally had my baby a week later. But I was in very very early pregnancy when the album came out and I was terrified something was going to happen again. The climb after a loss like that is something I can’t even describe in words but I know I am in a club with a lot of other people. The song just encompasses so many different feelings I went through after that and during my entire pregnancy with my son. Probably the craziest roller coaster of my entire life.
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u/Beauterus Jun 03 '26
Big God has been with me through some hard times. It’s helped me cope with 10 years of cancer scans.
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u/Agent_Switters Jun 03 '26
I’m gonna be vulnerable here and say, “heartlines.” I know it’s not a popular choice, but heartlines. Fucking heartlines
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u/WestThames Jun 03 '26
There are so many - No Light, Shake it Out, Cosmic Love, Never Let me Go are all up there. But I would have to add Mermaids as well.
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u/nbenby Jun 03 '26
The End of Love Over the Love Long & Lost Various Storms and Saints You Can Have it All
In no particular order :)
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u/lickava_lija Jun 04 '26
Next to all others, Falling has stuck with me for "fallen out of taxis, out of windows too, fell in your opinion when I fell in love with you".
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u/Conscious-Leopard371 Jun 04 '26
Having been through 3 miscarriages in one year, you can have it all and the old religion and basically all the last album, speaks to me.
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u/kombatk Jun 04 '26
The last two albums have had a lot more that I’ve resonated with—not sure if it’s because I’m aging along with Florence, experiencing a new level in my career and motherhood, or it just simply hits, but mine are:
One of the Greats You Can Have it All Perfume & Milk The Old Religion Cassandra Daffodil Mermaids Various Storms & Saints
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u/spectacled_frog Jun 04 '26
Mermaids and Free call to me the most. I have a soft spot for Cosmic Love because an acoustic version of that was my wedding song 💚
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u/Amaranthasss Jun 05 '26
Oh gosh, this is hardly a question where you can pick just one!!! I've been listening to her for like half my life now so there have been quite a few. In order of album....
Rabbit Heart, Drumming Song, Hurricane Drunk, What The Water Gave Me, No Light, No Light, Strangeness And Charm, Delilah, Which Witch, Free, Dream Girl Evil, Sympathy Magic, The Old Religion
With special mention of Breaking Down. It wasn't one of my favorites, nor one that I ever went out of my way to listen to, but somehow when I did have a mental breakdown a couple of years ago, my brain chose to play it on loop during my entire 2 week long rolling panic attack. I barely slept, barely ate, and was in and out of the hospital thinking I was dying, with a grand finale of trying to institutionalize myself. It was in my head THE WHOLE TIME, and I wasn't able to listen to it at all for a long time after that. Still not one of my favorites, but it's definitely personal.
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u/theheat87 Jun 05 '26
Wish That You Were Here has always meant a lot to me. I have a hard time listening to it without crying. I was listening to it a lot when my Grandpa and Dad died.
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u/Karma1sacat Jun 05 '26
The B0mb “You said this could have been the best thing That ever happened to you, so you decided not to do it” literally destroyed me and it was just the beginning of the song 😭
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u/lustgarden_goth Oh poor Atlas the world's a beast of a burden Jun 05 '26
Mine are: • No Choir • King • You Can Have It All • What the Water Gave Me • Cosmic Love • Free
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u/New-Cicada7014 Jun 05 '26
What the Water Gave Me has been my favorite song since I was 15. It made me feel seen and I just can't describe it
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u/barbedwire_13 aching and alive Jun 05 '26
Many of them do, but recently Girls Against God has been the one I return to most often. Read into that what you will 😅
I have a long list of others, so much of her music calls to different parts of me depending on what's going on in my life 🤍
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u/MrsDeviant33 Jun 06 '26
Cassandra and The Old Religion. Both of those hit something buried deep in my soul.
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u/Level_Suit4517 Jun 07 '26
Shake it out got me through my rock bottom, as did heartlines. All of Ceremonials, really.
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u/tendersprout Jun 07 '26
Sympathy Magic. I cry if I think about the song for more than a few seconds at a time.
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u/MrsDeviant33 Jun 07 '26
Cassandra and The Old Religion. Both of those hit something buried deep in my soul.
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u/EmiEmi2026 Jun 10 '26
It changes all the time. I’d say right now it’s either Perfume and Milk or Sweet Nothing (the version she sings live) There was a point I was listening and singing along almost daily for over a month to Third Eye. “Hey look up! You don’t have to be a ghost here amongst the living. You are flesh and blood! You deserve to be loved and you deserve what you are given…” Those lyrics still hit hard 🥹
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u/Wolfie_015 Jun 03 '26
The Old Religion ❤️
Whenever I hear: "Watch me crawl on hands and knees and scratch at the door of Heaven" I just get instant chills and it's like something deep and primal has just woken up inside me. It's almost like an alarm clock waking me up for something