Dance Fever: Florence + the Machine & King Princess Heading Our Way
Florence + the Machine will be bringing their Dance Fever Tour to our shores next March, treating fans to a new batch of songs and what promises to be an amazing show. Playing Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, then hopping across to Auckland, the band will be joined by special guest, rising pop sensation, King Princess.
It’s four years since Florence + the Machine toured Australia, with much of that hiatus being spent in lockdown. During isolation, lead singer and songwriter, Florence Welch delved into her psyche and interrogated what really mattered to her. That internal expedition led to Dance Fever, Florence + the Machine’s fifth studio album.
The songs on Dance Fever capture a longing for human interaction and a deep yearning for the joy of sharing music, dance, and celebration. If the first four singles are anything to go by then Dance Fever is destined to become a club, car, and ear-bud favourite.
‘My Love’, ‘King’, ‘Heaven Is Here’ and ‘Free’ show the extraordinary range of F+TM’s music while still retaining their unmistakable sound. The music videos for each of the songs are, in themselves, distinctive art pieces; stunning, quirky, visceral. But, for the full F+TM experience, you absolutely have to see them in concert. The atmosphere, the energy, and the unmitigated adoration from fans is like nothing else.
Someone who will readily attest to that is King Princess, aka Mikaela Straus aka KP. She cites Florence Welch as not only an inspiration, but a mentor and friend.
“Flo is just such an incredible, incredible person and has been really helpful to me just by being a friend and someone to talk to, and we’ve had a lot of conversations about the industry […] She’s also really fucking wise and dope and I love I love I love her music! Like, me and my girlfriend listen to her music a lot,” says KP.
KP met Welch in 2019 when both were playing the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City. KP remembers watching F+TM on stage.
“And I think I had taken mushrooms and I was convinced that she had no pants on,” relates KP. “She was wearing a dress and she was wearing underwear under the dress, but I was convinced that she was like full koochi out. And so I went to her afterparty and we were talking and I was like: ‘I just really loved how you had your koochi out on stage’.”
Welch assured KP that she in fact was wearing underwear and they have been fast friends ever since.
Apart from a fungi-induced hallucination, KP remembers the extraordinary magic of that F+TM performance.
“You could feel the whole audience was just so entranced with her and her performance. And I was entranced …”
KP’s own songwriting has the same feel of brazen honesty, vulnerability, fuck-you-ness but also sense of fun as Welch’s. Her debut single, ’1950’, was released in 2018 when KP was 19 years old. The song is a nod to the Patricia Highsmith novel, The Price of Salt (which was adapted to screen as the movie, Carol), and to queer love in general. KP doen’t believe in being coy or ambiguous in her songs. In fact, she believes it’s vital to have visible LGBTQI+ artists.
“Its incredibly important. Everyone deserves to see themselves in art.”
The feedback she has received from fans validates that. Many have shared what KP’s music means to them, how it’s made them feel safe and seen, got them through depression, anxiety, and break-ups. For KP, it’s a circular gift – music has always done the same for her.
KP describes the songs on her new album, Hold On Baby, as snapshots in time, journal entries. The album itself hasn’t been released as a whole yet.
“For me it’s more important that I release the parts of the album that I connect to first,” she explains.
“I want people who listen to my music to get a lot of songs before the album because I want the puzzle to start making sense, you know, to people. And then they get the whole album and they can choose whatever they want as their favourite.”
Two singles that have been released are “Bad” and “Cursed”.
“Those two songs bring me so much joy. I’m so proud of the production and the writing on those songs. […] I think it’s a cool thing to be able to put out a song about self-deprecation and feeling low; that’s a really cathartic experience…And have people jam to it!”
The next release is a song called “Change The Locks” which KP holds very close to her heart.
“It’s a really important song for me. Super important. This one is for the gays, it’s for the people who need to cry.”
King Princess has been to Australia several times before but it’s been a while between beers.
“I have really, really, enjoyed it, like I feel so much love when I go there […] so I feel really excited to go back, it’s been a couple of years.”
The Dance Fever Tour with Florence + The Machine happens in March 2023, on the tail of World Pride.
“OMG! I would do anything to catch World Pride but I have a crazy schedule coming up with the record coming out… But it’s gonna be…I mean if it’s anything like I remember Australia being, it’s gonna be a party from start to finish.”
Florence + the Machine ‘Dance Fever Tour’ with special guest King Princess on sale now via:
frontiertouring.com/florenceandthemachine
