Florence and The Machine appear to be on the verge of something new and stirring.
On her Instagram feed Florence Welch posted a video of herself at dusk wearing a flowing red dress, methodically digging into dark earth before letting out a cascade of anguished screams into the ground.
The imagery is raw and cinematic, suggesting rebirth or release rooted in something primal and human. As expected with Florence, it is rich in metaphor and imbued with emotion that resonates beyond the literal. The post immediately flooded social media, and fans are reading it as a clear signal that new music is on the way.
This teaser arrives after Florence and The Machine’s most recent album, Dance Fever, released in 2022. That record channelled feverish rhythms and mythical patterns, offering a vibrant blend of baroque pop and theatrical energy. It was built around recurring themes of ritual, dance, transformation and escape, and it felt both expansive and intimate.
Since then Florence has remained active, performing at festivals, collaborating with other artists and releasing a cover or two, but she has not offered a major solo statement. The video of her digging into the earth and screaming into the void feels like a continuation and escalation of that artistic thread, suggesting something darker, more elemental and possibly more personal.
Context for this comes from the way Florence has always used her visuals to preface her music. In the past she has deployed gothic fairytale motifs, elemental forces, fire and water as metaphors for emotional experience. This latest visual goes deeper still into that symbolism, literally returning to the ground. For fans attuned to her work, it suggests themes of emergence and excavation. Perhaps an emotional excavation, a confronting of buried truths that must be exhumed before they can be sung.
No announcement of album or single has yet been made, but Florence’s gesture is unmistakable. That red dress and that screaming echo draw listeners forward. If Dance Fever was about the rush of transformation, perhaps this next phase will be about the digging, the breaking open, the voice that’s screamed into the earth in order to return more vivid and alive than ever. The soil awaits the sound.
