Top 45 Florence Welch Quotes

Music to me is so internal. It’s physical and it’s emotional. Whereas fashion is so much about the external that it’s almost like a break. It’s not inner turmoil. It’s total escapism.

I’m a choir girl gone horribly, desperately wrong.

But I was always much more interested in reading fashion magazines than I was music magazines when I was a teenager. Just that sense of romanticism and escapism and the dream of it has always been quite alluring to me, as well as that sense of becoming a character through clothes.

I didn’t want to become a personality, I wanted to be a musician, but because I didn’t have an album to stand by yet it was hard for people to see that. But now, two albums in, I’m happy with things.

You know, people always ask, ‘What are you like offstage?’ And I always say, ‘Well, I’m completely normal and mellow.’

When you’re heartbroken, you’re at your most creative – you have to channel all your energies into something else to not think about it. Contentment is a creativity killer, but don’t worry – I’m very capable of making myself discontented.

Growing up, I always wanted to be in punk bands, so I’m really enjoying the harder, heavier element. It’s always been my dream to have people moshing at my gig, kind of that really feral element of the music coming out more. I love crowd-surfing.

During the songs, you transcend yourself. The best way to be in the performance is to be without pause and be essentially in the moment, in that moment of expression.

I started off singing in church as a child. The sound of voices coming together, that was my first moment of touching something outside of myself.

On stage, you can use your emotions. It’s the place where you can channel them. They have a purpose.

I’ve always been able to just concoct a melody quite easily – it’s just kind of instinct, really. You’ve got to channel your subconscious.

I’d experimented with so many different types of music. I had these folky songs I’d written and recorded, but something wasn’t quite right.

I’m really careful with what the music gets put with, and we say no to so much stuff, loads of it, for things that might quadruple the sales of my album. But if it doesn’t fit then it doesn’t fit, you know?

When you play, it’s like you know that there are people out there who are hearing it for the first time, and I think that’s really important.

The stage is a place where I can be wholly myself. Even though you’re in front of people almost to be judged, it is a place without judgement.

I’m just a black hole for stuff. No one should ever hand me anything, because I get so easily distracted. I’ll be like, ‘Oh, look, something shiny!’ I’m glad I never learned how to drive. I would be really dangerous.

I’m one of those people that is up for most things. When I was offered to sing at the Oscars I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to know what that’s like!’ I’m always curious to know what things are like – as long as you’re not compromising who you are.

At the beginning of my career I was going through a really weird phase of dressing in boys clothes. I would only wear one American Apparel T-shirt and shorts and brogues the whole year round. Not the same T-shirt, obviously, but one style of American Apparel T-shirt. I think I was going through a tomboy stage.

When I am with my family, then I can just sort of switch off. It’s kind of weird, because I go back and I go into this bedroom that I have had since I was a teenager. It is like this parallel universe, because one minute I am on the red carpet and then the next I am hiding out in this room I have had since I was 15.

The first album, for better or for worse, was done over from the ages of 17-22, with a couple of different producers. Some of it was recorded in an old swimming pool, some of it was recorded in a synagogue – it kind of was all over the place.

I think I should get a bigger between-the-song persona, so then I’m not wandering around the stage like some mad old auntie that’s saying hello to people and falling over.

My mum wanted me to go to university.

I get in fights with my sister all the time. She comes on the road with me and we fight – like sisters do.

I like to wear clothes that I will wear when I am an old lady.

It’s very flattering when you look into the crowd and people have made an effort and dressed in your style.

I quite like the drama of an encore. I think an encore is for those artists who are inclined to do dramatic gestures, and I certainly would say I am inclined towards them.

The release of ‘Lungs’ was so hard. It was terrifying, because it was the first time doing everything. The first experiences of media exposure were almost paralysing. I spent a lot of time crying on the floor of the studio – it sent me a bit mad.

My style of playing is more enthusiasm and instinct than skill.

There’s such an extreme feeling to be in love, especially in quite an emotionally destructive relationship, where you’re both kind of really bad for each other, but you love each other so much. Those extreme emotions, I think, can only be described with extreme imagery.

Music is my way out. I keep things locked up and never say anything. I guess in order to say something to one person, I have to sing it to a couple of thousand. It doesn’t make for healthy relationships.

I’ve got quite a vivid imagination and I’m easily overwhelmed by sensations and things that are beautiful or scary. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ghost – I think I’m probably haunted by my own ghosts than real ones.

‘Dog Days’ was recorded with pens and the wall, and half a stolen drum kit that was out of tune, in what was basically a cupboard. The only instrument I could really play was my voice, so we just layered everything a hundred times. It was enthusiasm over skill.

I’m completely in love with the world but also terrified of it. It creates some overwhelming feelings. Wanting to battle out that joy and fear is part of my music.

I love that sense of release as you throw yourself into the crowd as hundreds of arms are carrying you.

I saw ‘The Artist.’ It’s really beautiful and it’s all done to the letter with all the silent film techniques. The costumes were amazing and the dog is so good.

I always wanted to sound like a man, like Jeff Buckley or Tom Waits.

I feel a responsibility to the fans who have paid to see me and I want to give as good a show as I possibly can.

I love Lady Gaga and I love Katy Perry and R&B and rap music… I love big, American pop music.

I’ve just never been a tracksuit-wearer.

When something really hits me, it makes me want to either jump off something really high or lie down and be buried. I want people to get hit and caught by my music.

When making the first album, I think I wrote a song about every six months. The first album was so much about the vocals carrying it.

The sense of jubilee for music and what we’re making is always genuine.

Going to parties usually makes me feel depressed, just because I have such social fear after meeting people.

I dyed my hair red when I was ten and when I was 11 – in my goth period – I dyed it black and I was really into witchcraft. I made mini shrines in my bedroom with candles and tried to cast spells to make the boy in the next class fall in love with me. I don’t think he did.

I can’t wait to get on stage, because there you don’t worry about whether you’ll ever get married because your life is insane, or whether you’ll ever have another boyfriend again, you don’t worry about the typical boundaries of how your life has to be.