Florence + The Machine question “the cost of greatness” on transcendent new single ‘One Of The Greats’

Florence + The Machine have shared their transcendent new single ‘One Of The Greats’ – check it out here.

• READ MORE: Florence + The Machine – ‘Dance Fever’ review: the triumphant sound of a singer reborn

It’s the second single from their upcoming album ‘Everybody Scream’ after the title track was released last month, and it comes a week after Florence Welch first shared a snippet online.

“I don’t really know how to explain myself with this one,” said Welch of the new track, which she wrote in one take with IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen. “It was sort of a long poem about the cost of greatness. Who gets to decide what that is? Why do I even want it? Why am I never satisfied?”

She continued, “I feel like I die a little bit every time I make a record, and kind of literally nearly died on the last tour. Yet I always dig myself up to try again, always trying to please that one person who doesn’t like it, or finally feel like I made something perfect and I can rest.”

Welch said that the track, which Aaron Dessner of The National and Big Red Machine also worked on, could be a “15-year outpouring of frustration” after being “ridiculed and derided for the bigness of my expression” earlier in her career.

“I wanted it to feel like you were disintegrating into nothing at the end,” she finished, “Which is sometimes what the creative process feels to me. Death and resurrection over and over.”

‘Everybody Scream’ is set for release on October 31. The album, the group’s sixth, explores womanhood, partnership, ageing and dying, and sees singer-songwriter Mitski involved as well as Bowen and Dessner.

It follows 2022’s ‘Dance Fever’, which reached Number One in the UK, and in a four-star review, NME described it as “the triumphant sound of a singer reborn.” The review read: “This 14-track collection reflects a new sense of resolve, packing an invigorated spirit into powerful, sneakily thrilling pop.”

Florence + The Machine will be touring the album next year too, with UK and European dates across February and March, including two huge shows at London’s The O2. You can find tickets here.

Florence + The Machine’s ‘Everybody Scream’ 2026 tour dates are:

FEBRUARY
6 – Belfast – SSE Arena
8 – Birmingham – bp pulse Live
9 – Glasgow – OVO Hydro
11- Newcastle – Utilita Arena
13 – Liverpool – M&S Bank Arena
14 – Sheffield – Utilita Arena
16 – London – The O2
17 – London – The O2
20 – Manchester – Co-op Live
22 – Paris – Accor Arena
23 – Antwerp – Sportpaleis
25 – Amsterdam – Ziggo Dome
26 – Cologne – Lanxess Arena

MARCH
2 – Vienna – Stadthalle
4 – Munich – Olympiahalle
5 – Prague – 02 Arena
7 – Krakow – Tauron Arena
9 – Berlin – Uber Arena

Welch has also revealed that the inspiration for the ‘Everybody Scream’ album came from undergoing lifesaving surgery during the ‘Dance Fever’ tour in 2023, as she alluded to in her comments on the new single. She looked into spiritual mysticism and folk horror too, understanding the limits of her body and asking what it means to be “healed”.