Interview Class of 2023: FLO

“An average day is - you’ve got a meeting in the morning, then a fitting, then a vocal rehearsal,” begins Renée Downer. “Then you need to go home and take out your hair and wash and blow dry it and run on your treadmill, and then practice because the next day you’re doing a video shoot, and the day after that you’re doing another video shoot, and then next week you have a MOBOs performance. That’s the situation right now.”

Even in the gaps between schedule commitments, FLO barely have a moment to themselves; when they log into today’s call, bandmates Jorja Douglas and Stella Quaresma are dimly lit in the back of separate cabs on the way home from a rehearsal, while Renée is hurtling down the road trying to intercept the driver of hers. It’s taken several weeks of reschedules and postponements to even manage to lock down this shaky Zoom connection with the London-based trio. Everything for FLO right now is relentlessly go, go, go.

It began a mere nine months ago, with the release of debut single ‘Cardboard Box’, and has snowballed ever since in a way that suggests things aren’t likely to calm down any time soon. That song picked up the box to the left of Beyoncé’s kiss-off anthem ‘Irreplaceable’ and channelled its empowering spirit into a harmony-soused song that seemed to naturally fit into a lineage of classic girl groups past: TLC, Sugababes, Destiny’s Child. Jorja recalls “literally crying with relief” when their label, Island, finally gave them the go ahead to release the track. “We fought so hard for it to be our first song, so for it to really exceed our expectations and give us the best launch ever, it’s been such a relief and such a reward,” adds Renée.

Their expectations might understandably have included a certain level of viral success. During their 2021 incubation period, the group would upload intricately harmonised covers of Doja Cat, Silk Sonic and more to TikTok, watching the anticipation build and the comments roll in (“Destiny’s grandchildren” stands as a particular highlight). But it’s the welcome mat that’s been laid down for them by their peers and idols that really marks FLO out from the pack. Kelly Rowland swung by the studio during the recording of withering R&B banger ‘Not My Job’; SZA and Missy Elliott have both gone on record as fans; Brandy has become something of a regular figure in their lives.

“We were doing a media training Zoom,” Jorja reveals in a move that probably wasn’t in that meeting’s advice, “and our trainer is friends with Brandy. When we were talking about our inspirations she was like, ‘Oh! Let me just text her!’ Then all of a sudden, Brandy’s joining in the Zoom and we’re just sitting there in disbelief that she’s talking to us. Since then she’s been supportive on Instagram and everywhere.”

Like many things with FLO, the pieces all seem to be naturally fitting into place: a benchmark that began with the group’s creation."},{"Copy":"Though girl group auditions bring to mind a very X Factor-style way of constructing a musical unit, the three members of FLO all had previous experience with each other before they reunited at Universal HQ. Renée and Stella had gone to school together, while Stella and Jorja had met “in a group setting”; when the three were teamed up together to workshop a mash-up, they all picked the same songs, realising straight away that their tastes were naturally aligned. “The way it all came together,” says Renée, “why would it not be 100% meant to be?”

The shout outs they give today seem to naturally fall into two columns: the greats of American R&B (Faith Evans, Mary J Blige, Brandy) and classic, attitude-driven girl groups (Spice Girls, Pussycat Dolls). At the centre of the venn diagram sit Destiny’s Child - held up as the perfect example of what the genre can be. “The standard they held themselves to is what we appreciate there,” Jorja says. “In my opinion, there’s no other girl group who had that level of choreo and vocals, and the way they carried themselves is as close to perfection as a girl group has ever seen.”

FLO evidently hold themselves to equally high standards; recently, they posted a rehearsal video to social media, showing them exercising while singing to practise their breath work in preparation for any intense future choreography. Also notable is how much the trio evidently embrace the notion of the girl group and all it entails. They don’t want to be a band, they want to be a group - with the emphasis on unity. “In a band people are doing different things, but in a girl group we have to work together to make it perfect,” Jorja notes.

Female solidarity is also a recurring sentiment throughout FLO’s output so far, particularly on gal pal bop ‘Summertime’ and its accompanying video, which sees the three larking about in Greece. “We were brought up by our mums and we’ve always grown up with that same message of female empowerment and strength,” says Stella. “I think [what we want to represent is] to go with your gut and be strong in what you believe in, and that your voice holds weight.” At one point during today’s chat, following an enthusiastic foray into the “passion, conviction and emotion” found in US R&B, Renée suggests that the Spice Girls’ message was preaching the same ideas. “All of their songs just give so much energy and that translates onto whoever’s listening to it. You just wanna get up and have fun and go crazy, and be Baby Spice or be Mel B. It’s the same effect.”

FLO aren’t bothered about nurturing the individual aesthetics that their Spicy forebears were so famed for, however; instead they want to advocate for their cohesiveness as a trio. “It’s more about us becoming more alike than something in us growing and sticking out,” says Renée after an attempt to glean their girl group personas results in the not-hugely-marketable ‘Organised FLO’ and ‘Chill FLO’. And, as they prepare for the release of an incoming December single (all we’re allowed to say is that, as Stella notes, it’s “fitting for the time period” of a Christmastime release) and an even bigger 2023, their six-legged pop juggernaut is coalescing into one unstoppable whole.

There are plans for guest stars, a new live show and a debut album - none of which they’re prepared to even remotely divulge today aside from the fact that the new material will be “not all about boys all the time”. But even though the details are scarce, the excitement around the future of FLO is tangible. Brandy knows it. Kelly knows it. The global audience who watched them already make their US TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel know it, and the 2.6 million people who’ve made TikToks to their songs are extremely on board. Going with the FLO, then, seems like a no brainer.

Tags: FLO, Class of…, Features, Interviews