FLO Talks “Unapologetic” Debut Album and Continuing the Legacy of R&B Girl Groups
Tallulah Ballard/Art treatment by Kaitlyn McNab
Introducing Teen Vogue's Girl Group Week, a celebration of the best and most exciting girl groups of the past and present, the ones who make hit after hit and show us time and time again that friendship, girlhood, and fun choreography are timeless.
On a Saturday afternoon in April, FLO is basking in a blissful rarity of down time. Or trying to, at least.
We talk in between the two weekends of Coachella 2024, the trio’s first U.S. festival, on the eve of their weekend two performance. But today, the U.K. girl group is attempting to complete non-FLO-related tasks. Each bandmate joins the call separately: Jorja is finishing last-minute shopping for an upcoming trip, Stella just left a lash appointment, and Renée is simply trying to find the “calm before the storm.”
“We’re super tired,” Jorja says with a straight face. “Tired, but it’s rewarding,” Renée adds.
Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer, and Stella Quaresma officially formed as FLO in 2019, but it’s within the last two years that the group’s momentum has gone into overdrive. There was their viral March 2022 single “Cardboard Box” complete with a TikTok dance, a debut EP that summer, a Missy Elliott feature the following year, a North American tour shortly after, a debut appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, another EP and matching tattoos, and now their first Coachella performance. FLO’s sound is rooted in ‘90s and early 2000s R&B — which are the last decades we saw dominant Black girl groups.
FLO aspires to not only lead the modern girl group renaissance, they also want to craft a sustainable identity that’ll inspire their successors, like the cultural blueprints Destiny’s Child and TLC left in their wake.
“I wouldn't have been able to predict that we'd be playing Coachella with only two EPs out,” says Downer. “That’s really crazy. We’ve learned a lot. We've experienced a lot within the industry and learned a lot about how to run our business, and our dynamic has improved our relationship. We've only grown closer. We really wanted to get our foundation in check because if you don't have a strong foundation, then everything could just crumble at any point. We had to take some time to think about what we want in our team and what we want to achieve moving forward.”
“Walk Like This,” FLO’s first single of their next era, is the sonic embodiment of the group’s foray into new terrain. Without even hearing a word on the single, you can spot a transformation on the horizon. The cover art for the song shows the trio wearing black and white fur coats with thigh-high stiletto boots, with Douglas ditching her long hair for an edgy pixie cut; the trio’s once dreamy eyes now deliver a piercing, fierce gaze, with each member looking like they feel, wearing the confidence that they are each, in fact, that girl. The group is captured in motion mid-strut — a dynamic motif also featured in the cover art of their latest single “Caught Up,” out May 24.
The costuming of “Walk Like This” is reminiscent of the album art for SWV’s New Beginning, released in 1996. In it, the classic R&B girl group donned white-and-brown fur coats that exude sexiness and sophistication. FLO’s aesthetic reference may have been unintentional, but that single bleeds with the same sultry elegance and maturity as SWV’s sophomore album. Throughout the track, FLO delivers over three minutes of their signature spell-binding melodies that are as succulent as the coital pleasures they’re singing about. With all three members of the group now 21 and over (Douglas and Quaresma are 22, Downer 21), grown and sexy is the vibe.
Though “Walk Like This” will be included on the group’s upcoming album, they're adamant to note that it was not the lead single — just a new beginning.
“We thought [the cover art] looked really strong, because the song is all about feeling empowered,” Douglas says. “Obviously, it's alluding to what takes place in the bedroom, just having the fire on and nothing else. It's sexy, but it's not vulgar.”
In comparison, the trio calls their latest single “Caught Up” “fun but honest.” “[It’s] about setting the standard in a relationship,” the group writes via email a few weeks after our call. “It’s not a threat, but it’s a warning to all those men who need to be kept in line! We hope our fans feel confident when listening to ‘Caught Up’ and know that it’s okay to demand they be treated like the baddies they are!”
FLO is guarding the details of their debut album, including its release date, closely. After all, the project has required a lot of late-night sessions and last-minute changes. The group admits that the album release timeline has changed over 10 times, but confirms that it will finally drop this year. FLO says their album will unveil more of the group’s identity as they experiment with different genres.
“It's powerful,” Downer says. “It's also unapologetic. On the album, we have a lot of different songs we try but obviously bring R&B into it. Everything we're doing, we want to do it from a place of honesty and a place of ‘This is what we have to say, and this is how we're gonna say it.’ It took a while to get that because we couldn't just make songs, we had to be vulnerable and open up and really get to the root of what we were talking about.”
Downer adds that listeners will be surprised by the album’s material due to the group’s rapid growth as both women and performers. “The songs that are out on Spotify and streaming services are really old songs,” she continues. “They were songs that we wrote when we were a lot younger, so we've come a long way. We've learned a lot, and some things have to be said.”
A crucial lesson the group has learned is the power of relying on each other and trusting their intuition. Each a product of single mothers, Douglas, Downer, and Quaresma understand the work required to nurture something to success. It’s what their moms did for them. FLO also credits their similar upbringings for how well they’re able to communicate as a group.
“We understand what each other needs,” Quaresma says. “We know that in certain situations, maybe we need to give this person space or maybe we need a chat. I feel like we can read each other quite well, and that definitely helps.”
Because of this, nothing is complete until they’re in full alignment. As self-described perfectionists, the art of constantly refining their craft may seem daunting, but it’s something they know must be done. Case in point? The group pored over countless artwork concepts and styling choices for “Walk Like This” — a process Douglas described as “very chaotic” — before landing on the final concept just two days before it was shot.
But the group’s natural, keen synergy has been evident since the earliest days of their career. Before the release of “Cardboard Box,” FLO says their label felt they should have a different song as their debut, calling the song “too strong” and insisting it be saved for later. The group wholeheartedly disagreed.
“We knew our potential and it kind of felt like they didn't, but we stuck up for what we thought was right, and it paid off big time,” Douglas says. “That is a true testament.”
During both of FLO’s Coachella performances, they incorporated songs from iconic Black girl groups in their setlist with the ease of a group who’s well-aware of their history and laser-focused on their future. On the Mojave stage, they honored the artists who’ve influenced them by performing snippets of records like En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go” and Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious.” As modern R&B girl groups go, FLO doesn’t have many mainstream peers — but that doesn’t incite any anxiety amongst them. If anything, it only motivates them to work harder.
“The most pressure we throw is from ourselves, which is quite a positive thing,” says Quaresma. “I think we feel like we're in good company with the girl groups that have come before because we know that we can work hard enough to be seen as one of them one day. There's definitely girl groups coming, so there's definitely a resurgence, but we don't feel nervous about it. We know what we can bring and how hard we work, so it's quite exciting.”
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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