FEATURE:
Access All Areas
PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding for DAZED
Can FLO Kickstart a Girl Group Revival?
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IT is a very exciting time…
for Pop at the moment. In terms of dominance and who is at the top, it is very much about the solo artist. One can say Charli XCX leads the way. I think that a lot of the sounds and songs we hear on BRAT (her latest studio album) are going to influence artists coming through. An award-nominated album that is among the best-rated of this year, I think that she is going to be headlining festivals next year. She is already booked to headline Primavera Sound. Alongside her are other great Pop queens such as Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Intelligent and innovative Pop that is refreshing the genre. There is still a problem with homogenisation, though there are distinct artists showcasing something both fresh and familiar. Challenging music that is also accessible and instantly classic. In terms of the girl group market, that is not as healthy and prevalent as it was in decades past. With its last peaks being in the 1990s and 2000s, I guess you can say more modern groups like Girls Aloud kept the flame alive. In the 2020s, there has not really been a great charge of girl groups. With other sound and genres being favoured, the once-ruling blend of Pop and R&B the great girl groups used to provide is very much in the shadows. However, there are a couple of acts that could well buck that trend. Where once the U.S. led the way when it came to the best girl groups – I am thinking TLC and Destiny’s Child were up there -, there are some great modern British examples. Say Now are a group with keeping an ear and eye out for. I would also say that FLO are right up there. Perhaps the leading girl group of the moment.
There is definite demand and desire for these groups. Think about the reception Sugababes got when they played Glastonbury last year. Girls Aloud may not be recording any new music, though you feel a some more tour dates are on the cards. They did a tour earlier in the year and there is very much this hope they will put something new out. Spice Girls could well reform one day or perform some gigs. Legends of the scene like TLC are still performing. These queens are giving strength and influence to the modern breed. Even if groups like FLO have their own sound, you can hear links to brilliant U.S. and U.K. girl groups. Perhaps we are not going to get the same sort of wave of girl groups as we had years ago. Their debut album, Access All Areas, has won critical praise. Many have asked whether the trio (Renée Downer, Jorja Douglas and Stella Quaresma) could be the next big thing. Their contemporary take on the R&B-driven sounds of previous girl groups has the potential to be huge. As one or two reviews of their albums mention, perhaps a bit more grit and risk-taking with the sounds. An edge, sense of experimentation and swagger that is perhaps lacking. Not that FLO are playing it safe, though you do feel that they need to be a more daring and look at the girl group history books. That will come with time. It does seem that FLO have the potential to lead a girl group charge for the 2020s. I will come to a couple of reviews for Access All Areas to end things. I do want to bring in a couple of fairly recent interviews. They clearly (and rightfully) have confidence in their talent and future. The first interview I want to source from is from DAZED from September:
“The debut album from FLO, Access All Areas, took the best part of three years to find its direction. The number-switching and lock-changing on the good-for-nothing boys chronicled in their viral debut single “Cardboard Box” was a baby-faced introduction to the girls as they were back then. The lyrics were rough and ready (“Ima put your shit in a cardboard box”), but there was an unmistakable quality to their harmonising that was well beyond their years. Now, nearing five years together, the three young women of FLO are (still) in the throes of growth, but it’s the experiences in the past two-and-a-half years that have informed the album. For Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma and Renée Downer, a reintroduction may not be strictly necessary, but there is a story in the journey they have been on – a snapshot behind the scenes of the making of a band, and the breaking of anything (or anyone) that stands in the way of their success.
Seated around a semi-secluded corner table at The Standard’s Decimo restaurant in London, the girls are a few days out from a scheduled performance at Lollapalooza Chicago, but there is little haste. It’s a rare moment of respite they welcome among all the preparations, even though, technically, they’re still at work. After scanning the drinks menu, Jorja opts for a honey and saffron amaretto sour and, when Renée asks for peppermint tea with honey, Stella follows suit. But what will they eat? “Erm…” Renée ponders aloud. “What are we not going to eat?!” Jorja jokes. Our orders are taken and the table is cleared of menus as Jorja circles the table, filling everyone else’s glass with water before pouring her own. “Let’s get it cracking,” Stella prompts as Renée’s signature knotless goddess braids are swept out of her face and she begins to tell me the story behind their naming ceremony.
PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding
“We were coming up with loads of names like ‘Her Story’, ‘Minx’…” she recalls with a slight cringe. “Minx?!” Jorja and Stella shout incredulously. “Oh my gosh,” Stella drones with subtle embarrassment. “Yeah! Minx was in there! What else?” Renée asks as eyes shift between one another in the silence. “A bunch of stuff that wasn’t memorable, clearly.” Stella interrupts. “Her Story was probably the best but it’s also a bit, like… get a grip,” Jorja finishes. FLO was a placeholder name taken from a mysterious white cat milling around at Island House – a residence set up by the label where the artists could “do whatever, really” – that they decided to name. “Anytime we’d say we were thinking of calling ourselves FLO people would laugh and be like, ‘FLO? Like the period app? You guys can’t be called FLO!’ But it stuck and here we are. We’ve given it meaning, you know… Flo[w], we’re in sync and there are three of us. Everything works!” Renée says, before Jorja inserts cheekily: “Period!”
Jorja has a way with words that leaves little room for one’s own conclusions to be drawn. As the eldest, and self-proclaimed “sassy” one of the group, she can be soft and carries mama bear-like qualities and is a witty conversationalist. “I feel like I’m good at making decisions or sparking thoughts that lead to decisions, if that makes sense?” she says when asked what she brings to the group. Stella, the middle child of FLO, maintains a level of calm throughout our conversation that stands in contrast to Jorja. When she does speak, her contributions are well-timed and considered. “I’m definitely the most level-headed one,” she affirms. “I can see different points of view very easily and I’m one to take a minute to assess the situation. I’m a big assessor. I like to assess the room and situation before I speak.” Renée and Jorja both agree that Stella is also the funny one, whereas Stella describes Renée as “very organised. She keeps us in check but she’s also the baby as well. She’s very sweet and caring.” Renée is both beyond her years and endearingly young. She is the youngest in the group but in no way a liability, as can be the case stereotypically. “I make sure that we don’t miss anything, and discuss and stick to deadlines which is very important because this is a business,” she says. “Stella is like my chill sister that will be on anything and Jorja is like my big sister that will clart me and tell me what I should be doing, but she’ll hold me down and always have my back.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding
The members of FLO are each their own women, but also a sisterhood in sync. Their journey as a band began in 2019 after being formed by Rob Harrison, an A&R at Island Records on the lookout for singers to form a girl group. At the time, the girls were all posting videos singing covers on Instagram: “You know, that’s what the kids were doing and that’s how he found us,” Renée says of their now ex-manager, with whom they parted company this year. “I got an email from Rob saying, ‘I’m putting together a girl group. I’ve seen your videos, can I come to see you sing somewhere?’” says Stella, recalling how the pieces all fell into place. Fast-forward through a few rounds of group sessions mixing with different girls in different groups, and the three of them were put together, with this year marking their fifth anniversary. In fact, the group came together right before the pandemic, which was something of a blessing in disguise for the girls. “With the pandemic came so much conflict, whether it be [with] the label or management, so we had the chance to get totally on the same page with each other and battle through all these issues,” Jorja explains. “We were thrown into the deep end as far as being in business with a bunch of strangers goes. The pandemic allowed us not only to bond with each other but to make our bond unbreakable.”
I also notice how fans, or ‘FLO Lifers’ as the band has dubbed them, can be very opinionated. In fact, generally speaking, fandoms nowadays tally stream numbers and critique era-rollout plans and creative direction more rigorously than the people paid to do so. The girls aren’t blind; they see it all. In fact, they often agree with their assessments. “We kind of agree because of the journey we’ve been on,” says Jorja. “We’ve seen first-hand the flaws and holes where A&R and marketing are concerned. To be honest, it’s kind of refreshing to see that people see what we see. It’s nice to have the majority appreciate and enjoy what we’re doing because we are trying really hard, but it also reminds us that we’re not crazy and that the grievances we have behind the scenes are valid, because other people were noticing them too.
It feels like we’re circling a part of their journey that holds great significance here. When I ask them to go into these grievances, there’s an unspoken resistance as knowing glances are exchanged. When they do speak it’s with a palpable sense of caution, the only time in our conversation you can feel them holding back. There are clear frustrations, but seemingly none great enough to take our talk to a place where past burdens hold weight in their present. “We feel like we’ve been surrounded by a lot of yes-men and people who don’t know what to do with us, which is understandable,” says Jorja. “It’s taken a long time for us to find people we are happy with and want on our team. We love constructive criticism because that’s something we don’t feel we’ve received a lot of, but [the people who] have given us constructive criticism [in the past] weren’t necessarily the right audience or the best deliverers. They didn’t understand FLO and that’s something we struggled with, growing our team – having people who know us, know the music we create and that scene.” However, they all agree that their boyfriends offer great support. “They don’t shy away from us,” says Jorja. “They will tell us all of their opinions, sometimes unprovoked.” “Mainly unprovoked,” Renée confirms with a subtle side-eye.
Clearly, finding people who not only understand them individually but as a group of young women with a vision has been a point of contention for FLO. Even their style has taken a hit as they’ve worked through trial and error with different stylists and creative teams – so what exactly is their vision? “I think it’s ever-changing, to be honest, and we’re gonna keep evolving so people either grow with us or they don’t,” says Stella. “I’m kind of like, I think it’s us? As in, not that we’re the problem, just that we should just do it ourselves,” Jorja continues, before Renée adds: “I think there are people out there that will, like, guide and help us because at the end of the day, we’re still growing, but something which we’ve always done is be involved. So as we learn more and find people who will help us grow and develop, there definitely will come a time where we can do it and we’ll be confident and able to run the ship ourselves”.
It is encouraging that FLO’s brilliance and buzz has reached the U.S. An interview/profile from The New York Times earlier this month heralded FLO as a group matching ambition with nostalgia. How they are reinventing the girl group for modern times. Quite high plaudit for the quite new group. I think that they do have the foundations to be one of the greats. Hopefully lead a revival that could see a range of girl groups rise up. Make a challenge to the mainstream Pop titans:
“From the start, the group was a high-concept project. In 2019, Flo’s initial manager, Rob Harrison, and its label, Island, set out to create an R&B girl group that would revive and update the sound and attitude of acts from the 1990s and 2000s. While that era’s R&B has been a key ingredient in the rise of K-pop, American and British R&B have lately favored solo acts rather than groups. “A girl group was missing from the industry,” Douglas said.
The label auditioned teenage R&B singers, seeking individual and collective chemistry, after it “basically found us all on Instagram,” Downer said.
Flo’s three members were ready. They had grown up in an era of professionalized pop training, youth talent competitions and social-media self-promotion. Quaresma recalled that even when she was in elementary school in Devon, England, she was determined to become a pop performer. “I was 12 and I was, like ‘Mom, I’m behind my schedule,’” she said. “‘Everyone in London is already starting their careers. I’m behind them all, I’ve got to do something.’ So every day after school, I went to dance class and worked on singing.”
Quaresma and Downer met as students at the Sylvia Young Theater School in London, whose alumni include Amy Winehouse, Rita Ora and Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice of the Spice Girls. Douglas was 14 when she won a televised singing competition on CBBC, the BBC’s channel for children, and she continued to post songs online. Downer and Douglas had befriended each other on Instagram, only to meet in person for the first time during the auditions for Flo.
Part of the audition process assigned singers to work up cover versions as a group. Downer, Douglas and Quaresma quickly found that their tastes aligned; they arranged a mash-up of Frank Ocean and Jazmine Sullivan.
Once chosen, the members of Flo began an intense process of self-invention. The lingering girl-group stereotype of Svengali producers controlling naïve singers was not for them. But they welcomed hard work, and they spent two years in preparation — songwriting, recording, costumes, chorography — before unveiling Flo.
“We were like, ‘We want boot camp,’” Downer recalled. “We want to be ready, we want to rehearse and practice. We started doing sessions: learning each other’s voices, and learning about our blend and how we were going to be unique as a girl group. Figuring out what we all liked, what we could bond over.” She said they did write a lot of songs, and wanted to release music earlier. “But looking back, the development time was very necessary because we were very young.”
Holding back their debut album was not a decision to be taken lightly. Flo persisted.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
They found a steady collaborator in the English songwriter and producer Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike, who records as MNEK (pronounced like his last name) and has worked with Beyoncé, Dua Lipa and Madonna. “Cardboard Box” was one of their first collaborations, back in 2020. In a telephone interview, MNEK said, “They were all like 16, 17, and just figuring it out and learning how to be a group and learning how to harmonize together and how to write together.”
Although Flo tried songwriting sessions via Zoom during the height of the pandemic, the group strongly prefers gathering together in one studio. “It’s just all about conversation,” Quaresma said. “You know, what we’re going through. Sometimes we’re not even going through it, we just want to write a story, make something up. Then we’ll do melodies — either on the mic or on the phone or in the room. And then we write to those melodies.”
Holding back their debut album was not a decision to be taken lightly. Flo persisted.
“They really care about their craft,” MNEK said. “In the 1990s they would have released an album they weren’t really happy with — and got dropped. The girls did have the luxury of just being, like, ‘This album isn’t right. We need to improve it. We care about this album and we don’t feel that we have to release music that is subpar — because we haven’t yet.’ They’re all really involved and nothing’s coming out unless they’re happy with it. They are very strong-willed women and they have good instincts.”
While their early material relied on British producers, Flo brought in American collaborators for “Access All Areas,” a way to experiment that could also broaden their audience. “Caught Up,” a single from the album, was co-produced by Pop Wansel; it suavely incorporates the jazz guitarist Joe Pass’s solo acoustic version of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.”
“Cardboard Box” and other songs on “The Lead” had little mercy for errant boyfriends. The lyrics on “Access All Areas” allow more room for affection, juggling self-assurance and vulnerability, independence and lusty attachment. (The title song is not about a backstage pass.) “‘The Lead’ was about shifty men,” Douglas said. “And then ‘Access All Areas’ is a lot more positive, because that reflects where we’re all in our lives.”
The new album also includes an unexpected hard-rock blast — mockingly titled “I’m Just a Girl” — that taunts anyone who underestimates Flo’s ambition or success: “How many Black girls do you see on center stage now?” they sing.
“I think authority is the magic key to Flo,” Douglas said. “It’s just making sure that we always say what we’re thinking. We don’t believe in beating around bushes. And then always making sure our voices are heard. That is one thing that we’ve done from the start, and it’s definitely something that we’ll continue to do.”
She smiled. “It got us this far”.
I do think that all the signs are good. FLO are here to stay. Even though contemporaries like Say Now suggest it is quite a growing market, I think that it will take time before we see more girl groups come through. With FLO gathering a lot of love and spotlight, it is a very exciting time. Even though The Guardian were looking for a bit more risk from Access All Areas, they did have praise and positivity from an excellent debut album:
“Access All Areas makes you abundantly aware that the charts would be a better place with Flo in them. The songs are punchy and well written, as on the poppy Nocturnal, or Check, which has a faint but noticeable UK garage skip to its beat. The trio bring thick, satisfying harmony vocals without indulging in showy over-singing, and an impressive quantity of attitude to sagas of useless boyfriends and relationships gone wrong: you really wouldn’t mess with the girls singing IWH2BMX, or commanding over the stammering rhythm and rock guitar of closer I’m Just a Girl. They can do slow jams, both of the straightforward bedroom-bound variety (Soft), or the kind that traverse more complicated emotional terrain: How Does It Feel marries its measured pulse to a wrathful, vengeance-shall-be-mine mood.
But Access All Areas also demonstrates why Flo haven’t quite exploded. There are plenty of good tracks here, but no undeniable no-further-questions smash hit: you get the link to SWV or Writing’s on the Wall-era Destiny’s Child, but at present, they’re an SWV without a Right Here or a Weak; they’re a LaTavia and LeToya-era Destiny’s Child without a No, No, No or a Jumpin’, Jumpin’.
In addition, the one period detail Access All Areas’ production misses is that R&B in the era it celebrates thrived on sonic risk-taking and adventure. Quite aside from the songs, the big hits frequently worked by snagging listeners with novelty – even the poppiest of their avowed influences, Sugababes, weren’t above throwing the odd spanner into the works, as on the Gary Numan-sampling Freak Like Me. That sense of innovation is lacking here. It’s great to get Missy Elliott to drop a verse on your single; it would be better still to incorporate some of the head-turning surprise that Timbaland brought to Aaliyah’s We Need a Resolution – or indeed, that the Neptunes brought to Kelis, or Rodney Jerkins to Brandy. It comes close on Bending My Rules, which marries a scrabbly guitar sample to a lurching beat, but it feels like a simulacrum of early 00s oddness, rather than a fresh embodiment of its spirit.
Without that – or the aforementioned killer hit – their debut seems more like a solid start than an obvious smash, a good idea that needs fleshing out before it really comes into its own. There’s a spark about it that suggests Flo deserve the space, time and opportunity to do just that: they’re in touching distance of being genuinely great, but their debut album is a stop on a journey rather than an end in itself”.
I am going to end with a four-star review from NME. They were very much behind the wonder of FLO’s Access All Areas. It should rank alongside the best debut albums of this year. A statement of intent from a trio who are very much set on longevity and success. Make sure you follow them and listen to everything they put out:
“It’s been a moment since girl groups have commanded the hearts, minds and radiowaves of music lovers – at least, that’s the case in the West. Gone are the days of Xscape, TLC, All Saints, Spice Girls and many, many more. Fortunately, the time has come for a much needed “bad bitch replenishment”, as Wicked star Cynthia Erivo announces on record opener ‘Intro’: that’s British trio FLO and their debut album, ‘Access All Areas’.
Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer and Stella Quaresma cleverly tap into their reverence for the ’90s, with many of the record’s tracks sounding like they were ripped right out of that moment in time. Their angelic melodies on ‘Bending My Rules’ evoke ‘Runaway Love’-era En Vogue, the soulful ‘On & On’ would be right at home in SWV’s discography, while album highlight ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’ brings to mind Destiny’s Child’s seminal ‘The Writing’s on the Wall’ album.
FLO aren’t one-trick ponies, though. ‘Access All Areas’ ventures beyond the promised R&B girl group formula, such as on certified trap banger ‘In My Bag’, featuring a standout verse from Memphis rapper GloRilla. But not all of their risks pan out as well as that track. ‘How Does It Feel’, for example, is as generic as contemporary R&B comes, while grungy album closer ‘I’m Just a Girl’, despite the strong message of representation behind it, is an overproduced mess that flattens the hell out of the trio’s selling point: their voices.
Thankfully, there are plenty of anthemic, showstopping vocal moments (‘AAA’, ‘Check’ and ‘Walk Like This’) to offset the duds, and even a few ballads (‘Soft’ and ‘Trustworthy’) to really complete the throwback experience – truly a “feast for our ears”, as Erivo puts it in beginning. Throughout the album, the trio are comfortable and in their zone, and this gives them space to imbue the recordings with almost-magical levels of confidence and attitude.
On ‘Access All Areas’, FLO have it all down pat: the talent, charisma and star power are all on display. Riding on the wave of nostalgia has gotten the trio this far, and now it feels as if they’ve within striking distance of a true breakthrough. Even if ‘Access All Areas’ doesn’t overwhelmingly herald the return of R&B girl group dominance, the massive momentum FLO have built over the past two years hint that the dam is about to break”.
I do think FLO will ignite a charge of girl groups. Even if it make take some time to fully materialise, we could see something big. I don’t think it pure nostalgia that Girls Aloud, Sugarbabes and their peers are still very much in people’s hearts. It is their connection and sound that you don’t get with solo artists. Something extra. Even if modern Pop especially is defined by solo artists, we are seeing flashes of brilliance from groups. It is time for a new and exciting period of girl groups. Perhaps on the fringes slightly at the moment, as FLO know, it will soon be a case of…
ACCESS all areas.