Words by Tina Edwards

I’ve struggled to think of the last time I met a musician like FLOHIO. On the day of her debut album release show at Peckham Audio - a short ride from her hometown, Bermondsey, London - she springs onto our Zoom call, her voice bright and uplifting.

Perhaps FLOHIO's bubbly demeanour took me by surprise because her emotive new album, Out Of Heart, has her navigating difficult topics; grief, loss, betrayal and mental health. But it’s also about unity and searching for peace. “On the journey from No Panic No Pain, I’ve been discovering a sense of maturity”, says FLOHIO, reflecting on the journey since her aforementioned EP. “I had to be more delicate and intentional with this album. I was asking myself questions like, How honest do I want to be with my listeners?”

After listening to No Panic No Pain, you can only assume that FLOHIO decided to open up as much as possible. On the synthy, melancholic ‘Grace’, FLOHIO recounts how cancer has thrice taken members of her family. With the R&B adjacent ‘2 Hours’ featuring New York vocalist Hawa, the rapper recounts the collapse of a friendship that she thought would never break. The album is a dance between rap and electronic, in a way that feels original to the South London artist.

“For me, my music is my therapy. My pen is literally saying what I might not be able to say to my friends. Writing is something I've been doing for a long time before I even knew how to count beats. I enjoy writing alone but there are just some sessions where the boys are there”, she says, referring to the members of the production duo, God Colony. “They make things easier because I'm always in my head… the funny thing is, in [our track] ‘SE16’ and our earlier records, I have moments of vulnerability in my songs, but never did highlight them. With Out Of Heart it’s like, “What's really bothering me at this moment in time?” You know, family relationships, my mental health… genuine”. 

God Colony are James Rand and Thomas Gorton, long-time collaborators of FLOHIO's who’ve also worked with the likes of Kojey Radical and Jelani Blackman. Merseyside-born and London-based, James and Thomas produced four of the tracks on the album, with Speech and idntmttr laying down the rest. For the majority of FLOHIO's professional career, God Colony have been at her side.

James joins us on the call and offers some context on how he first met FLOHIO. “I was working with an artist called Lou Hayter, around 2016. Lou showed me this video of Flo on YouTube and me and Tom were just like, “oh, she's amazing”. Flo came down [to the studio], and the rest is history”, James muses. “Later on, we asked Flo what she first thought of us; she said she thought we looked like a pair of Google interns”, he says, laughing. “We did a huge flurry of tunes around 2016, 2017, and both of us had these little successes. Then we had to go and do our own thing. We always stayed in such a flow with each other so when there was talk of an album we thought, “well, we’ve got to do this, right?””. It’s clear that there is a bond between FLOHIO and James, as collaborators and as friends.

“James, Thomas and I have been working together for years”, says FLOHIO. “I think it's important having the support system around because there will be so many times - James knows this - that I'm asking myself “what do you think?” or “I shouldn't have said that!”. I’m so honest with my songwriting - but it’s never easy, I won’t lie to you. It's something that I had to grow into”.

One of the many things that FLOHIO and James are aligned on, is the belief that rap and production are both forms of composition. “Rapping is an art form; it’s improvisational. It's poetic”, offers James. “It's got to be full of meaning and when you watch someone freestyle - when it’s really good - it’s a work of divine intervention”. He takes a moment to reflect on one of the album’s stand-out tracks, ‘Cuddy Buddy’. “One of the main hooks on the back of the chorus was off of a first take ad-lib from when we first hit record on the beat. A lot of the time, we'll just get Flo to go into the booth when she’s just heard the beat for the first time. We hit record and so often, what comes out ends up making the final cut. I think any notions about that not being composition are dead in the water really; Kendrick Lamar has a Pulitzer Prize. I don't think you can argue with it”.

“Like James said; honesty, no filter”, adds FLOHIO. “The first time [in the booth] all I have is a bunch of ideas going for me. The first time I hear an instrumental, I don't want to waste it down on paper, so my first instinct is just to go to the mic, and however it moves me, I’ll perform”, she shrugs. “We're all composers, we're orchestrators. We’re continuously orchestrating these sonic soundtracks, but for me - this is how I've been for the last seven years or so - as soon as I hear the beat, I have to go to the mic and just start my journey that way”. And then she stumbles upon an epiphany. “When I've met this beat for the first time, I need you, James, to guide me along and then I will take the lead from there”. She pauses. “Wow, I never said that before - that's what it is”.

James has an intriguing way of thinking about production. “‘Punky and colourful’ was a phrase that I kept on using when I was mixing the record”, he says. “‘Grace’ is like a low blue hue and ‘Highest’ is like neon lights”. I ask him to expand on his concept. “If you mix records, you have to figure out what the physical space is that the record exists in; if you're recording an orchestra, the physical space is kind of obvious  - you're trying to be true to the reality of where that was recorded. With electronic music, it’s like, “is this a high ceiling song or a low ceiling song? Am I imagining a burning candle and acoustic guitar, soft furnishings and a bookcase? Or am I imagining screaming strobes in enormous places?”. It’s colour and space, but then, you know, I'm just relating with what colour those spaces are”, laughs James. “I don't really start thinking about concepts too early on. In the first instance, you just want to be free and do as much fun stuff as possible, so the colour thing happens later on”. 

James steers the conversation away back towards FLOHIO. “You talk about honesty”, says James, speaking directly to her “- and honesty, in art, is the most important thing, whether you’re making films or anything really. That was the thing that we tried to stay as close as possible to with this”.

Looking back, FLOHIO’s career was kickstarted when she dropped her Nowhere Near EP in 2016. Since her very first release, FLOHIO’s sync has been watertight; her phrasing moves delicately but purposefully. On her new album, just as with her debut release and those in between, FLOHIO’s remarkable dexterity remains one of her most impressive talents. It’s this skill amongst others that she was able to develop in Bermondsey’s Salmon Youth Club. 

“Salmon is one of the few youth clubs that's still standing”, says FLOHIO. “I'm so happy to be in the position I'm in, being able to make music. I could eventually make a platform for these young people, these young traders. For me growing up, Salmon played such a big part because without these youth clubs I don't even think we'd be having these conversations today; it’s where I grew my confidence, where I moulded myself slowly into what I’m becoming”, she says, taking a beat. “In that youth club was the first time I stepped up to a microphone. And there were multiple things going on in the building - not just music."

"Imagine that there are kids trying to do something that they love and there's no facility for that. That’s just crazy. What the youth club did for me in those six years… I’d want to be able to give that to another young creative. That's what I want to use my money, time, resources and platform to do later”, she says confidently. “It doesn't matter what they do. As long as there's just somewhere they feel seen, welcomed and safe at the same time with like-minded peers”.

FLOHIO’s skills as an MC and songwriter have been celebrated by both underground and mainstream media - even Naomi Campbell named the artist as one to watch back in 2018 when she was asked by Vogue to select “ten female stars who are reimagining our future”. FLOHIO describes being championed by the supermodel as “crazy”, but it has only further affirmed her confident yet humble attitude. I ask her if she felt the weight of expectation on her, in the lead-up to the hotly anticipated debut album. 

“Creating something better than last time, creating something that I'm going to be entirely happy with, that was the pressure - not how everyone else is gonna take it. I feel strong in that department”, says FLOHIO. “I believe that God Colony, Speech and I create good art. When we put our heads together, I’m confident in the records we put out - so that was never a thing”.

FLOHIO is deeply introspective. She takes an extra moment to think about how she wants to frame her words. She doesn’t filter them - the opposite in fact. She digs deep to share her thoughts and feelings with James and I - but only as much as she is prepared to, and rightfully so. “I'm not an advocate for mental health because I'm not in a position to do that right now” says FLOHIO. “For myself, I try to look after my mental health the best way I can. And that's by doing things I love and going out with my friends and being there for everybody that’s there for me; that's my support system. Eventually, I want to talk about my mental health when I'm more comfortable. Until then, my pen and my music are therapy for me. And I hope that everybody else’s medium - whatever it is that they choose to do - is their outlet. Writing started as a getaway. It just happens to have turned into my career”.

FLOHIO's album 'Out Of Heart' is available now.