You don’t have to be particularly keen-eared to spot Flo’s musical influences. They announce them in the opening seconds of their debut album – or rather actor Cynthia Erivo does. Her guest spot is the latest in a series of high-profile co-signs the London trio has attracted. SZA is apparently a fan; Missy Elliott guested on their 2023 single Fly Girl; rapper GloRilla turned up on this year’s In My Bag; and MNEK, who has collaborated with Madonna, Beyoncé and Dua Lipa, has been their chief producer from the start. Now it’s the turn of the award-winning star of Wicked to do her thing on the intro to Access All Areas, announcing Flo’s mission – “bad bitch replenishment”, apparently – and listing their inspirations: they are, we’re told, “receiving the baton passed on by Destiny’s Child, the Sugababes, SWV”. They doubtless wouldn’t object too strenuously if you added TLC, En Vogue, Zhané and 702 to the list.
Reanimating the sound of the classic R&B girl group for the 2020s really doesn’t seem like a bad idea. It feels different – in recent years, the genre has been almost entirely ruled by solo artists – and, moreover, it chimes with UK rap’s rash of 90s and early 00s R&B samples and a broader nostalgia in pop for the era of Napster and MTV Total Request Live. The old rule that pop revivalism tends to work in 20-year cycles, burnishing the music young artists remember as kids, still holds true.
