Florida!!!

"Florida!!!" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring the English band Florence and the Machine. The song is from Swift's eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). She wrote the track with the band's lead vocalist Florence Welch, who also duetted with her. The song was produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff.

"Florida!!!" is a power ballad with elements of pop, Americana, indie rock, and arena rock. Its production incorporates a mix of guitars and loud drums. The lyrics display influences of Southern Gothic and melodrama and address themes of escapism, alcoholism, and drugs: they are about escaping to Destin, Florida to create a new identity, as a means to relinquish wrongdoings and unpleasant circumstances.

Critics generally praised the duo's vocal performance and the song's production, although some deemed the lyrics lackluster. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 10 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Swift performed "Florida!!!" live with Florence and the Machine at one London show and three Miami shows of the Eras Tour in 2024.

Background

Taylor Swift started working on The Tortured Poets Department immediately after submitting Midnights to Republic Records for release in 2022, and continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg of the Eras Tour in 2023. Conceived amidst heightened fame brought by touring and publicized personal relationships, The Tortured Poets Department was a "lifeline" to Swift, who described it as an album she "really needed" to make. Republic Records released The Tortured Poets Department on April 19, 2024.

"Florida!!!" is the eighth track on the album. It features vocals from Florence Welch, the lead vocalist of the English band Florence and the Machine. Swift shared with iHeartRadio that the inspiration behind "Florida!!!" came from the series Dateline NBC. In the interview, she drew a parallel between people who flee to Florida after committing crimes and those dealing with heartbreak: "They try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in." Welch told British Vogue that Swift approached her with "a concept and a story", which was her "favourite way to start songwriting". The actress Emma Stone was credited for the "oddities" in the track, according to the album's liner notes.

Swift performed "Florida!!!" with Welch at the eighth and final London concert of the Eras Tour on August 20, 2024; it was the song's first live performance. The track was added to the setlist between renditions of "So High School" and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", being accompanied by a choreography. Swift and Welch performed the song again during the Eras Tour's three Miami concerts from October 18 through October 20, 2024.

Music

Swift wrote "Florida!!!" with Welch and produced it with Jack Antonoff. It is a power ballad with an uptempo production drawing from pop and Americana. Its production is accompanied by insistent programming that build up in the verses, before cascading into a dynamic refrain composed of power chords, accentuated by jarring, booming drums over a soft synth backing. The instrumentation consists of a mix of drums and guitars that evoke 2010s indie rock and arena rock. Swift sings the first verse, Welch sings the second, and the two duet later in the track, resulting in vocal harmonies.

Several critics described the loud drums in the chorus as theatrical and cinematic, and the overall soundscape as gloomy, bleak, but also anthemic. The music critic Annie Zaleski described the drums as "thunderclap", while Billboard's Jason Lipshutz wrote that they "crash down like lightning strikes". Laura Snapes of The Guardian thought that the "desolate Americana" of the song was influenced by the music of Lana Del Rey. Erica Gonzales of Elle added that the sound brought an "anthemic and at times euphoric feel", reminiscent of Welch's music, and Maria Sherman of the Associated Press thought that the 2010s indie rock nostalgia evokes Sufjan Stevens's album Illinois.

Lyrics and interpretations

The lyrics of "Florida!!!" contain influences of Southern Gothic melodrama. With escapism as its main theme, the song is about embarking on a therapeutic journey to relinquish unpleasant experiences and circumstances. Swift's character details her surroundings that drive her insane: she is sick of her friends who smell like "weed or little babies" and fantasizes about buying a timeshare in Destin, Florida, where she would have a chance to create a new identity. Welch's character dreams of indulging in alcohol and murdering her ex-lovers and "cheating husbands" before throwing their bodies into a swamp. The refrain characterizes Florida as a narcotic experience that could "fuck up" one's psyche: "It's one hell of a drug."

The lyrics reference many common perceptions of Florida as a state of weirdness and contradictions: beautiful and brutal, hurricanes, swamps, drugs, crimes, sunshine, and vacation getaways. Multiple analyses compared the theme of murdering cheating lovers to that of Swift's 2020 song "No Body, No Crime". According to Notion's Rachel Martin, the song is based on Swift's and Welch's stream-of-consciousness writing. Bryan West, writing for The Tennessean, contended that "Florida!!!" is a thematic continuation of its preceding track on The Tortured Poets Department, "Fresh Out the Slammer": after escaping from a relationship that made her feel imprisoned, Swift's character flees to Florida and towards a new relationship. Bryan also compared the escapist theme to that of Swift's 2017 song "Getaway Car". Zaleski added that the narrative resembled the film Thelma & Louise.

Critical reception

"Florida!!!" received generally positive reviews from critics. It was selected as one of the album's best tracks in a multitude of reviews. In a positive review by Melissa Ruggieri of USA Today, Swift and Welch's vocals against stomping instrumentals made the song "cinematic and purposeful." The Independent's Helen Brown also praised Welch's vocals. Lipshutz ranked the song third against the album's sixteen tracks, commending Swift's emotional vocals and the brash sound. Gonzales also said the song brought an "infectious energy" with its blasting drums during the chorus. Alex Gonzalez of Uproxx thought that the song was both bold and timeless, and Pitchfork's Shaad D'Souza deemed it the boldest and most energetic song, making it stand out from a mostly contemplative and subdued album.