Florence Welch anoints herself royalty in Florence and the Machine’s new gender-challenging song “King.” Watch the video:
,” Welch sings on the song, which is built on throbbing bass and sparse textures. Halfway through, she howls long and proud as an orchestra joins the coronation. Near the end of “King,” Welch reveals her motivations singing, “I was never as good as I always thought I was/But I knew how to dress it up.”
“As an artist, I never actually thought about my gender that much,” Welch said in a statement. “I just got on with it. I was as good as the men and I just went out there and matched them every time. But now, thinking about being a woman in my 30s and the future, I suddenly feel this tearing of my identity and my desires. That to be a performer, but also to want a family might not be as simple for me as it is for my male counterparts.