R&B/Soul
'We'd love there to be more': FLO bemoan lack of girl groups
British trio FLO have bemoaned the lack of girl groups on the music scene at present.
FLO would love for there to be more girl groups.
The In My Bag hitmakers – consisting of Stella Quaresma, Jorja Douglas and Renée Downer – are frustrated that they are a minority in the industry when compared to how many all-female acts there were in the past.
In an interview with the London Standard newspaper, Douglas, 24, said: "We'd love there to be more.
"When we were growing up, we had girl groups we looked up to and we saw ourselves in their personalities."
Quaresma, 24, suggested that girl groups are increasingly rare as they are "expensive" to promote and because it is difficult to find performers who are willing to share the spotlight.
She said: "They're hard to get right, they're expensive... you have to get the right people that want to be in a group."
Earlier this year, FLO became the first British girl group to receive a Grammy nod for two decades when they were nominated for Best Progressive R+B Album for their debut record Access All Areas, and the band are keen to pay homage to those who came before.
They said: "It's mad, isn't it? I mean, where's the Sugababes' Grammy? It is criminal. We want every girl group to know that whatever success we gain, we owe a portion of that to them."
FLO released their second studio album, Therapy at the Club, last week and Downer, 23, explained that the trio were determined to "elevate" themselves with their sophomore release.
She said: "We wanted to elevate ourselves... (as people) we're now more grown up, more assertive, more sure of the tone of voice we want to come across in our music."
Quaresma explained how the band immediately "related" to Therapy at the Club after their long-term collaborator Rachel Keen offered them the album's title track.
The singer said: "We heard it, and it felt like a level up. We related to so many of the topics in it. We thought OK, we can make an album about that."
FLO have enjoyed a meteoric rise since winning the BBC's Sound of 2023 but explained that they do not think of themselves as "celebrities".
Downer said: "It just kind of feels normal now.
"But we don't think of ourselves as celebrities or anything like that."
