[What!!!?] Florence and the Machine Record "Stand by Me" For Final Fantasy XV!!!

Say what?! Florence Welch recording the main theme to a Final Fantasy game?! When two (of my favourite) worlds collide!

Final Fantasy XV decided to go with a cover song from their main theme, and turned to the incredible Florence And The Machine to record it. Thinking about, it's not that strange a collaboration considering, like the music of the game series, there's a heavy influence of classical and drama music in Florence's music.

Florence + The Machine covers Justin Bieber's "Where Are Ü Now"

Justin Bieber isn't exactly my "go to" in any type of musical scenario. But, I loved his link up with Skrillex and Diplo.

[ Full Set ] Florence + The Machine @ Radio 1' Big Weekend 2015

Florence + The Machine are once again on the festival trail, building hype for their third LP, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.

[ New Music ] Florence and The Machine Regain My Attention With "Delilah"

The output from Florence and The Machine's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, thus far has failed to capture my attention the way previous releases from the collective have. The LP's fourth single, Delilah, FINALLY changes that- praise the Lord!

[Cover] Florence Welch Works Her Magic With Icona Pop's "I Love It" @ HRC Benefit

Here's something I wasn't expecting to see, EVER: Florence Welch covering Icona Pop's thumping dance track I Love It.

With the original version housing a rebellious and petulant vocal courtesy of Charli XCX, I couldn't even fathom how someone with as contrasting a voice as the Welchster would bend the song to her musical will. The answer, was of course, for Florence to strip the track back, slow it down and give her wavering voice the room to substitute a more melodic line for Charli's punchy delivery. Initially it sounded out of tune to me, but the magic built as the song progressed and I was suitably charmed and impressed by the end.

An effect of the change of pace and Florence's emotive ways, was that the song's lyrics- which originally sounded as shallow as a dried up puddle- got a better chance to be heard and appreciated. Where there was once just defiant empowerment, there's now a sense of sorrow and loss mixed in with this sentiment. Effectively Florence managed to give the song a depth which wasn't present before.

[Watch] Divas Unite For "Chime For Change" Concert @ Twickenham Stadium

Saturday saw the Chime For Change concert take place at the home of Rugby Union, Twickenham stadium. There was something fittingly symbolic about a venue usually so crammed full of alpha males that just breathing the surrounding air on match day could make you sprout chest hairs, being used to highlight the plight of women everywhere.

Some of you may know that I was lucky enough to attend the concert- and had an amazing time, thanks for asking. But this post isn't really going to offer a play by play of the concert, instead I thought I'd post MY top three best and worst things about the night. Doing that should hopefully stop me from rambling and let you get to the performances quicker. (Or you could just ignore all of this and just scroll straight down, you scoundrels!)

[Review] Florence + The Machine make Sweet Music On Great Gatsby Soundtrack

Wow, Florence Welch really lets her inner banshee loose on her Great Gatsby contribution, Over The Love. Okay, well strictly speaking the song is by Florence + The Machine, but still, it's that piercing voice that really steals the first half of this show. From the quiet and broody midrange that opens the song, to the effortless highs that punctuates the chorus, this is Ms.Welch doing what she does best: giving us drama and theatre, all with that stunning instrument of hers.

The "Machine" does get more vocal as the song progresses; building to a chaotic and breathtaking crescendo at the climax, as it joins its front woman up in the musical stratosphere. But it's a fleeting union, because as quickly as the two take up their embrace they drift apart, leaving us with only a choir of Florences to ease the comedown.

Divas take over "T in The Park" [Watch]

BBC's T in The Park 2012 took place this weekend in Balado, Kinross-Shire, and was choke-full of Divas. So instead of posting separately on each of them, I thought I'd just spam you with all of them in one go, and just pray none of you become too overwhelmed with the glut of aural and visual stimulation.

Honesty time, I haven't had a chance to watch these all myself. I had a busy weekend, which included seeing Katy B at Somerset House yesterday (was amazing!). So I thought I'd post them for you guys now, because by the time I manage to watch and evaluate them it would most likely be time for T In The Park 2013.

Let me know if there was anyone in particular you enjoyed in the comments!

[New Video] Florence + The Machine: "Spectrum"

Florence + The Machine have released the video for one of my favourite tracks off of the Ceremonials album, Spectrum.

Keen to mirror the opulence and luscious feel of the track itself, Florence + The Machine enlisted world renowned photographer David LaChapelle to direct the clip.

There are some gorgeous set pieces to be found in the video for Spectrum, for instance the flooded cityscape, and the golden-hued apartment, but it feels like they either ran out of time, or money to really use them to their best advantage. The choreography looked particularly loose. But I suppose that will happen when you're trying to squash in a video shoot while on a world tour.

Florence + The Machine Perform "No Light, No Light" On The "The Voice" USA

Florence + The Machine are currently over in the States on their excellent Ceremonials Tour [read my review here], and so stopped over at The Voice to perform, and promote, No Light No Light, live in front of the judges.

The staging was amazing, the way Florence Welch appeared to the audience, like a ghost rising from her grave, was fittingly theatrical and atmospheric. As if by magic, the stage was then filled by other spectres, as a mob of spritely contemporary dancers bounded on to it from nowhere, and a solemn choir in black- who may as well have been hooded and robed- took to the stepped pyramid. This was as close to a pagan ritual as I've ever seen on live television. All that was missing was the sacrifice, though that might have taken place off camera...

Tour Review: Florence + The Machine, The Ceremonials Tour [Cardiff & London]

Setting out on the promotional tour for latest album Ceremonials, Florence +the Machine touched down in the United Kingdom after already having put shows on in Asia, America and Australia since it kicked off in October of 2011. With over 80 dates between then and its last in Sweden, on the 14th of August 2012, I was hoping I'd get to see her when she reached my home town of London this month, but it wasn't to be...initially.

So, thinking I'd missed out on tickets for Florence + The Machines’ London gig, I took my English butt and hopped on a train, over the border, to Wales and its capital city Cardiff to catch the Ceremonials Tour a little more west than I had planned.And what a time I had, but I'll stick to describing the show...

[Watch] Florence + The Machine Perform "No Light, No Light" At The 2012 Brit Awards

The ethereal Florence + The Machine shut the 2012 Brit Awards down with their amazing performance of No Light, No Light; a song taking form their equally amazing second album Ceremonials. Yep, there were some tuning issues, and Florence Welch's voice was particularly cutting and shrill at points, but that held note [an A4] at 2.52 gave me chills.

My appetite is suitably wetted for the Florence+ The Machine gig in Cardiff next month!

Florence And The Machine Cover Drake and Rihanna's "Take Care"

Did you ever imagine that Florence Welch would be a Drake fan? I'm not sure I did- not that I'd given it much thought, I must admit- but she vocalised her like of the Canadian star not only directly, calling him one of her favourite artists- along with Rihanna- but also musically, by choosing to cover the title track of his new album Take Care.

Take Care is a dark and atmospheric duet between Drake and Rihanna that musically is based heavily on the Jamie XX remix of a Gil Scott-Heron track I'll take care of you. The Drake remake is also produced by Jamie XX but features some additional production by Noah Shebib. It's a pretty good song, but nonetheless, one I wouldn't have expected Florence And The Machine to cover. But perhaps that was the point.

Review: Florence And The Machine visit Later With Jools Holland and the X-Factor

Florence and the Machine are back and on the promotional trail with second album Ceremonials. Their first port of call was with Jools Holland on his Later With music program, where Florence and her musical Machine delivered an accomplished and tight set.

Rocking a more serious and sophisticated Art-Deco look than Lung's hippy, avant-garde getup, the flame haired singer radiated a ghostly confidence with her measured renditions of new songs No Light No Light, What The Water Gave Me and Breaking Down.

Watch the performance's and read my thoughts on them below.

Diva Devotee Halloween Playlist:

It's that time of year again when the freaks come out demanding chocolate and pennies, the boundary between spirit world and the real world is at its weakest and Lady Gaga fans put on regular clothes so as to not feel accepted by society. Yes, its HALLOWEEN! So while everyone else out there is having a spooky day getting dressed up and ready to party I'm sitting at my computer compiling  a play list of Diva songs- let me just tell you it isn't an easy feat- that I think would go down quite well at any Halloween party! 

If you have any of your own suggestions please feel free to comment at the bottom!

Review: Florence + the machine, "What The Water Gave Me" and "Shake It Out"

I am really glad to hear some new music from Florence + the Machine. Her last release, Lungs, was pretty close to musical perfection, so I was really eager to hear what the next musical instalment form the singer would bring. Two new tunes from the new album, Ceremonials, have hit the web in the form of "buzz track" What The Water Gave Me and the albums actual first single Shake it out.

What the Water Gave Me: What the Water gave me shows the growth that has taken place since the last album. Though the music is still grandiose and avant garde, the youthful exuberance of Lungs seems to have mellowed, giving rise to a more focused, darker sound that has a more mature feel than her previous work.

Duelling Divas: Who sang "You've got the Love" better, Florence Welch or Joss Stone?

You've got the love is a song with so many twist and turns in its development, not to mention all its subsequent remixes, that I'm not even going to attempt to cover its inception and evolution in this post, because quite frankly I can't even make sense of it.

[Vocal Profile] Florence Welch

Florence Welch

Vocal Type: Mezzo-soprano
Vocal Range: 3 Octaves 1 note D3-E6
Whistle Register: No
Longest Note:24 Seconds (see end of final video below)
Vocal Strengths: Emotive voice that can go from warm cooing whispers to solid and defined in a heartbeat [How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful]. Florence Welch is capable of singing complex vocal runs, through the registers, and hold notes for periods of time without wavering in pitch or tone [Pearls and Noizies]. Ultimately, she is in possession of a strong individual vocal styling that has been called "soulful" "bluesy" and "powerful".

Review : Aretha Franklin 2011 Grammy tribute- Christina Aguilera the superstar vocalist is REBORN

Aretha Franklin tribute singers: Florence Welch, Jennifer Hudson,
Christina Aguilera, Martina McBride and Yolanda Adams

The most exciting performance, and the one I was looking most forward to, of the 2011 Grammy Awards was the Aretha Franklin tribute. Divas in training, well in comparison to Ms Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride and Florence Welch all come together on one stage to honour the Queen of Soul by performing some her classic hits.