Singer Florence Welch has realised her latest record isn't about a relationship breakdown, even though she initially thought it was.
The 29-year-old star's latest album with Florence + the Machine is called How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful and she wrote it during a difficult period. She was coping with the end of a romance which sent her spiralling into depression and battling an alcohol problem, but she can now see that isn't all that influenced her writing.
"I did think it was about a relationship," she told Q magazine. "But actually, as I've listened to it, I've realised it was much more about a relationship I was having with myself. Although the confusion of love and loss is in there, I think I was trying to figure myself out more than figure anyone else out."
Florence is now enjoying life again, which is why it came as a huge blow when she broke her foot at California's Coachella music festival this year (Apr15). It meant shows she had planned were in doubt and she certainly couldn't perform in the way she'd been planning to.
Eventually, the star managed to see her accident as a positive.
"So much of this record has been about stripping back layers of grandeur and whatever you use to protect yourself," she said. "And I was at my most vulnerable state with that broken foot. It was like I was enforced to calm down and 'be'. It was a really interesting lesson in how to project from one place."
Now she sees the incident as something inspiring, because it forced her to calm down. Traditionally Florence has gone wild when she's been releasing albums, turning to drink to calm her nerves. With that no longer an option, she had to cope with her anxiety in another way.
"It grounded me, that broken foot. It made me focus. I've been meditating but, honestly, that broken foot did a similar job," she said.
