Florence Welch Was MADE For This Taylor Swift Song | Florida!!! | Journey To The Eras Tour PT19
FLORIDA!!! 🌴🔥
For Part 19 of our Journey to the Eras Tour, Rick & Robert are diving into one of the wildest collaborations on Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department: “Florida!!!” featuring Florence + The Machine.
But before we even get to Taylor and Florence, we have a very important problem to solve…
Robert has NEVER heard Florence + The Machine. 😂
So naturally, we have to introduce him to “Dog Days Are Over” first and the boys immediately start talking about Florence Welch's completely unmistakable voice, her power as a vocalist, and what makes her sound so different from anyone else.
Then it's finally time for “Florida!!!”
We talk about why this song was chosen for the Journey to the Eras Tour, the absolutely ridiculous concept of Florida being treated like a drug, and how Taylor can take something as ordinary as going to Florida to escape your problems and turn it into this giant, cinematic story about reinvention, escapism, heartbreak and wanting to disappear.
And then there's the production.
The beat.
The drums.
The chaos.
The metaphors.
The lyrics.
And that Florence verse.
Because once Florence enters the song, the entire energy changes.
Rick & Robert break down their favorite lines, the production behind the song, and whether Florence actually outshines Taylor on her own track. And while they obviously love Taylor, they have to admit that Florence brings something completely different to “Florida!!!” and that's part of what makes the collaboration work so well.
We also talk about Taylor's history of letting her collaborators shine instead of trying to dominate every feature, and why that's one of the most special things about the way she approaches collaborations.
Then we get into the real-life story behind the song's Eras Tour performances, including Taylor and Florence performing “Florida!!!” when the tour returned to Miami in October 2024, just weeks after Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated parts of Florida. The song's themes of escape, destruction, reinvention and Florida itself took on an especially interesting meaning in that setting.
And yes… we also spend a completely unnecessary amount of time imagining what GTA 6 would be like if you could connect your Spotify account and drive around Florida committing crimes while blasting Florida!!!😂
Because obviously.
We close things out by talking about Jack Antonoff's ridiculous level of productivity during this era, the chemistry between Taylor and Florence, the gorgeous back-and-forth vocals during the bridge, and why “Florida!!!” might actually be one of the easiest TTPD songs to throw onto a playlist and just let it rip.
🎤 Does Florence steal the song?
💊 Is Florida actually one hell of a drug?
🔥 And where does “Florida!!!” rank among the songs we've covered so far?
Let us know in the comments!
And we're not done with Taylor yet…
NEXT UP: Rick & Robert react to “My Tears Ricochet.”
And later this weekend, our Patreon exclusive continues with Robert's reaction to “Father Figure.”
The Taylor takeover continues. 💙✨
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CHAPTERS:
DOG DAYS ARE OVER - 0:00
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE - 03:00
GTA6 CLOWNING - 05:15
TAKE IT AWAY TAY - 09:15
OPENING THOUGHTS - 10:15
RUN IT FLORENCE - 14:25
IS FLORENCE'S VERSE BETTER?! - 14:25
QUIET FOR THE BRIDGE - 20:45
JACK PUT IN WORK - 22:55
TAY LETS PEOPLE SHINE - 27:20
TAYLOR TAKEOVER - 31:05
Comments (18)
Corrina!!! From a person who is actively working on a patent pending, you need to put that on a provisional to USPTO stat!! And when brilliance hits like that protect that shit!!!!🫶🏻🫶🏻
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Do you think you will rewatch the eras documentary with Robert? Before or after the eras tour, either way would work. I think he would like it!
Yess we are going to watch it but we’re gonna do it after we do Eras Tour. We’re gonna do the full first version of Eras Tour and then we’re gonna do TTPD era from the 2nd movie and then the docuseries! Rick got spoiled on a few of the songs and performances by watching the docuseries first so I figure I’ll save Robert from being spoiled too much haha 🫶🏼❤️
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You have to do the new Taylor interview and performance
Yess we’re supposed to record Taylor again next weekend for the journey to eras but I’m thinking of putting that on pause so we can do the interview and mashup instead haha 🫶🏼
Florence is talking about Hurricane Florence that hit Florida. As a lifelong Floridian who raised her family in Destin…this song rocked my world!! Destin Mayor arranged a parade and different things and blasted this song! He was so happy! So…hate to make the Matty Healey connection…but he is the one who was trying to outrun the shitstorm he created in Texas with his vile mouth! Fortnight is also a song that references a time spent in Florida for one or both of them.
Came to say this but you did it better!
(and the last 3 FLORIDA beat drops had an extra beat if you count them out)
That’s so funny because I did notice that but idk why 👀
I'll always remember Florence for saying... "oh my God, it's fucking Taylor Swift!"
That was hilarious! I loved that!
When you watch the Doc there is a good bit about this performance and song. You find out Taylor and Florence have been long time friends.
Taylor has said a little about this song. She was inspired by the datelines stories of people running away from crimes to Florida to hide. Florence wrote here verse about a shirt story that I can't recall right now. It feels like she wanted to collab with Florence and they came up with a cool storyline.
Love it!! They’re both so creative and have such unique voices so I’m glad they came together for this! Love the story about Florence’s verse! Didn’t even think to look into it before, just always vibed to the song haha 🫶🏼❤️