Star Project

I chose to research further into the English indie rock band, Florence and The Machine, I particularly chose this due to this artist falling into a similar genre of our chosen song, 'One Day Reckoning Song Wankelmut Remix'
Although Florence And The Machine is a band, often the main focus falls on lead singer and main vocalist, Florence Welch rather than the fellow band members, that often go unseen.
The bands debut album, Lungs was released on July 6th 2009, interestingly the BBC played a large part in the bands ruse to prominence by promoting Florence And The Machine as part of BBC Introducing.


Florence Welch has been compared to other female singers such as Kate Bush and Bjork, however during an interview Welch commented that Grace Slick is her 'influence and hero'. During this research project I found Florence's style to be dark and romantic and also refreshingly unsexualised, with this in mind, I thought it interesting to research into a female artist of similar age in order to strike a comparison..Both Avril Lavinge and Florence Welch are 27 years old and fall within the indie rock genre and yet present themselves differently to the media. Florence often presents herself in a way that perhaps allows her music to take the lead, often dressing in an understated yet classic way, this strikes an interesting comparison to artist Avril Lavinge who perhaps advertises her style and sound of music through dressing provocatively in order to create a media buzz around her, interestingly Avril Lavinge may be presenting herself as advertisement where she herself is perhaps the 'product' in which fans download and listen too, unlike Florence Welch who perhaps does not want fans to 'buy' her as product, rather to simply listen to the music.
Florence Welch pictured here in 2009 as a new artist is perhaps attempting to grab media attention through her dark, rocky style in order to stand out as a new artist. However yet again rocky style in order to stand out as new artist. However yet again Welch chooses not to advertise herself in a sexualised way, which is often a popular route by artists attemtpting to create a media buzz through their appearence, rather Florence dresses in her own unique dark style to promote and represent her own individual style which mirrors the dark and rocky genre of her music.
The album artwork of the debut album 'Lungs' seen below, once again represents Florence as an artist rather than a product of her music and the media. Florence is seen on the front centre of the album amongst a natural background of flowers and green, once again perhaps presenting herself as different, furthermore the focus of the lungs may represent her desire for listeners to focus on the music and sound, hence 'Lungs'.

This perhaps represents Florence Welch's desire to be known and respected for her music, rather than her appearance, it is perhaps a brave and well respected move by Florence to deny the usual occurrence of an artist becoming a product of their music and a product that is perhaps owned by fans. Instead Welch interestingly appears to move away from media conventions and presents herself as an individual to the media, a brave move that has seen her grow substantially in the music industry, gaining respect and acknowledgement for her work. This research raises the question of whether artists can be known and commended for their talents within the recording studio, rather than their 'talents' in appearance and presentation.

Florence And The Machine performed live at The Royal Albert Hall on 3rd April 2012 this well respected performance and famous venue perhaps represents how Florence not only produces continually popular music, where the bands second album 'Ceremonials' debuted at number one in the UK Album charts, but yet also successfully and continually presents herself in the image that she is comfortable with, hence her individual, fashionable and respectable choice of presentation, which so often is unseen by young twenty something artists who attempt to create media attention on themselves in order to promote their music, however Florence perhaps represents how good music promotes and advertises itself and that alone makes a star in their own right.

Florence in action, in her current music video 'Spectrum'