Florence Pugh has released her first music as a singer-songwriter – the songs “I Hate Myself” and “The Best Part”.
The tracks are included on the soundtrack to her new film A Good Person, a drama written and directed by her ex-partner, Zach Braff.
“I wrote these songs for my character Allison in the movie to perform, but also as a way to process and digest her mindset and her low headspace,” Pugh explained, per Total Entertainment.
“It was unbelievably helpful and hard; I wanted a song to reflect the self-hatred she had for herself in a way that the audience can truly understand.”
“The Best Part” is an ambient release featuring apologies for a “weak heart”
On “I Hate Myself”, against a mournful piano tune, Pugh sings: “And I want days of pain/ Oh, to feel the things I need/ To pay off this shame/ And I know that makes me broken/ I know that makes me weak/ I guess I’ll put my armour back on now.”
In the movie, Pugh plays a promising musician called Allison whose life unravels after she survives a major tragedy.
Braff recently told The Independent in an interview: “I wrote A Good Person for Florence. And because Florence was my partner at the time and… she’s just… I mean, all of her talent! I was like, ‘I’ve gotta write something for her.’”
A Good Person’s soundtrack also features songs by the Velvet Underground and Fenne Lily, and the score was written by the National’s Bryce Dessner (The Revenant and C’mon C’mon).
When she was younger, Pugh uploaded a string of acoustic covers to YouTube under the name Flossie Rose. More recently, she teamed up with Harry Styles to sing “With You All The Time”, which featured on the soundtrack to Don’t Worry Darling.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The Cultural Life last year, Pugh said she “would have put money on being a singer-songwriter way before being an actor”. She said she hopes to write a full album.
A Good Person is in cinemas from 24 March, and is available on Sky Cinema from 28 April.
The Original Score & The Compilation Soundtrack are out now and available here.
