When we spoke to Florence Welch in early November, she was just coming off a US tour and hadn’t had time to read Adele’s lengthy Facebook post about her new album, 25, which released on November 20.
Similarly to Welch’s How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful album, it’s got plenty of heart-wrenching songs about old relationships (hello, Hello!), so I asked the singer if she felt a connection to Adele.
“The sentiment of her song really resonated with me, when you grow up and you move away from people and places and especially when you are a performer and are on the other side of the world, there is a sense of perhaps wanting to call and go back to something more simple,” she said. “She is... that voice.. oh my God.”
Recalling the first time she saw Adele perform, Welch says: “It was years and years ago and we were doing a tiny pub gig at the Lock Tavern in Camden. This was the line up: Kate Nash headlining, Adele, Emmy the Great and me, I think I was on first. I think I was still in my drunk wailing phase,” she says, with a laugh. “My friend Matt played thrash guitar and I would just shout and scream. And Adele came on and it was like time stood still.
“This was a voice that was just going to stand the test of time. I’d never heard anything like it.”
Florence and the Machine perform at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 28. Entry is for F1 ticketholders only.