Illustrations by María Inés.

Collage by María Inés, using a photo by Tom Beard. Illustrations by María Inés.

Florence Welch is a FORCE. Seriously, how many times have you heard of someone performing their music so hard that they accidentally broke their own foot?! Fortunately, Florence is on the mend, and only minutes into our call with her last week, it became totally clear that she goes full-throttle with pretty much everything she loves (she also has a new record coming out next week on Island/Republic!!!):


dancing1. Dancing. It is my all-time favorite thing. Dancing is like life. I became obsessed with Pina Bausch and learning modern dance, so I studied modern dance with my friend Holly Blakey for a year. I dance around the house, while I’m out, on stage—if I’m moving, I’m happy. I’m sad because I broke my foot and can’t dance properly at the moment, but when I’m fixed, I’m going to dance my fucking ass off.

artgallery2. Looking at art. Art galleries are kind of like churches to me—I find them very grounding and balancing. I really like artists like Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, and Peter Blake, but it doesn’t really matter what’s on: If I go to a gallery and have a look around, I find that it gets me outside myself. A lot of my song lyrics come from art.

nickcave3. Nick Cave. He’s got this shamanic, visceral energy. I’m becoming really super obsessed with him, especially with the song “Jubilee Street” off his record Push the Sky Away, and I’ve been watching the film that he just made as well, called 20,000 Days on Earth. [In it,] he’s interacting with himself a lot—it’s amazing. It’s [his] raw power in performance that I’m really attracted to.

waistcoat4. Waistcoats. I just love waistcoats. I don’t know many other people who are passionate about a good, embroidered waistcoat. I bought a velvet one from a vintage store in L.A. recently. I also started having my own blouses made, and the sleeves are getting so flouncy. Basically, a pirate shirt is my ideal shirt. If I can find the perfect blouse, waistcoat, belt combination, I’ll be happy forever.

coffeemilk5. Coffee. I didn’t drink it for ages, and now I’m back on it—and I went from zero to 60. I got a grinder, I buy fresh beans. I use a French press, then I blend [the coffee] in the blender with coconut oil while it’s still hot. It makes this amazing creamy coffee, and the fat in the coconut oil sort of helps me from crashing. I love coffee and I hate it, because I get so super involved with it. ♦

(As told to Lena.)