KING - Music video analysis

As with most Florence + the Machine music videos, the hidden meanings can be dark, covert and cleverly peppered with meaning. In extension of our music video analysis from previous eras, here’s our take on the new ‘King’ music video from the band’s yet-titled fifth album.

To set the scene, Florence released a statement that the song itself is about the torn identities she feels between being a female wanting to start a family, and being a performer. She stated that gender was not something she had previously considered, until reaching her 30s and suddenly coming to the realisation that male performers didn’t have to consider this aspect of their lives as readily as female counterparts.

The video begins with her partner appearing frustrated, mirroring the opening line of having an argument about whether to have children. Florence looks on eerily, observing the situation. Her partner appears fearful of her retaliation against his thoughts, and even more so when her own power in the situation haunts him. At first, Florence appears almost angelic, bathed in light, as she confronts her partner on these tricky topics. However, in an attempt to prioritise her artistic life from her private one, Florence lures him and then kills the bond between the two, symbolised by breaking the neck of her partner. Note that the light changes from bright and optimistic, to dark. This has several points of significance. Firstly, associations between kings and beheadings is rife throughout history. Secondly, this moment shocks the viewer intentionally, as it may have shocked Florence during her realisation that her two identities were not compatible. Thirdly, in killing the male, Florence attempts to fully embrace her feminine identity (note, in contrast to the How Big era where Florence openly modelled her image on male performers). The change in setting may represent reality versus imagination, as well as perceived good versus destruction.

However, despite the killing of this male dominance/identity, Florence continues to drag it around. Her back is turned, but it weighs her down. Florence summons femininity from within, and surrounds herself with this (the female dancers). She levitates throughout, asserting her position as transcending her identity. Notice that when not tied to her male identity or her personal life, and embracing her female identity, Florence is grounded - free - bounding amongst them from outside the confines of the walls she was previously trapped within at the start of the video, into the vast outside world. The contrast of the stereotypically feminine colours and outfits is stark compared with the brutalist decaying concrete structures that they are set against, further highlighting the division between her two identities.

The video concludes by showing performers levitating along with her. Note the performers are all male, whilst her female support remains grounded. This may symbolise the physical division between her male and female identities, with Florence deciding when to ground with the female or rise to the male. However, it might also show that her performance identity is literally put on hold (suspended) because of the tensions she faces between embodying the normalised female role in society, and being a performer in a male-centric career. If she is active at the feminine level, the male (performer) level must freeze and vice versa.

In the end, Florence realises that she cannot artificially separate these identities from each other. Instead, she embraces her personal life and masculine identity and becomes one with this. However, this may also represent how her personal life helps feed her artistic one, as she literally appears to eat her partner.

As ever, we want to hear your thoughts! Please leave them in the comments and let’s get a discussion going!

The Big FATM Quiz 2020

After 12 years of iconic quotes, unforgettable memories, eccentric photo-shoots and a shed-load of hit songs, the time has finally come to show off your Florence + the Machine knowledge in true lock-down fashion.

Join us on 17th May 2020 (this coming Sunday) for The Big FATM Quiz 2020! The quiz will include 5 rounds, lasting around 1.5 to 2 hours in total, and will include multiple choice questions, “fill in the gaps”, true/false questions, and wouldn’t be complete without a picture and music round!

Where: Zoom (a popular, secure video calling app).

When: 17th May 2020 at 19:30pm BST (UK time).

How can I get involved: Simply register your interest before midnight (00:00 BST) on Saturday 16th May 2020 by filling in this form.

https://bit.ly/fatmquizsignup

We will be running the quiz in groups of 4. Ideally, we’d love you all to make a group of 4 yourselves and choose an imaginative team-name. Otherwise, we’ll allocate you to teams on the night, or you can choose us to allocate you too. Note, we will also accept teams of less than 4 and you can ask to play by yourself.

Feel free to leave questions below, or find us on social media.

See you on Sunday for some Florence + the Machine-related quizzing fun!

WINNERS

1. Anne Hegerty's Angels + Squirrels Yeah!

2. Excellent Potatoes

3. Flownery

BEST NAME

1. Quisa Machine

For those that missed out on the quizzes, you can do them all here and see the answers!

https://bit.ly/fatmpics

https://bit.ly/fatmmusic

https://bit.ly/fatmquotes

https://bit.ly/fatmtf

https://bit.ly/fatmmcq

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Join our STATIONHEAD British Summertime Festival warm-up broadcast

We’re hosting a special radio show to warm up for British Summertime Festival 2019, hosted on the radio app STATIONHEAD.

11th July 2019, 19:30 UK time

Simply download the app (download here) and find our station @fatmfanclub. We’ll be playing some of the band’s greatest hits discussing what set-list we’d like to see, the Between Two Books tent, the ‘stage-show’ and promo video, plus lots more! We’ll also phone in a few fans to join in on the discussion live, and be taking your song requests.

The app is only available for iPhone users at the moment, unfortunately. However, we will be holding an online discussion in the comments section of this page too, so anyone can join in.

See you then!