Florence + The Machine and Ethel Cain duet on new live version of ‘Morning Elvis’
Florence + The Machine and Ethel Cain have paired up for a new rendition of ‘Morning Elvis’, the closing track from the band’s latest album ‘Dance Fever’.
Singer Florence Welch invited the rising US singer-songwriter to record the live version during a recent concert in Denver, Colorado.
Cain said in a statement: “I was giggling when we rehearsed the song just the two of us before the show because Florence told me that ‘Morning Elvis’ was her channeling her inner Southern rocker, and I told her I couldn’t stop myself from emulating her British accent on certain words. It felt like a holy convergence happening in a basketball arena.
“Florence’s dressing room smelled like powder and sage, and we were both dressed in white, singing our lines back and forth to each other, and I felt like I was back in choir practice, but with an actual angel this time. She’s never not smiling, and if you would have told me we were the only two people in the entire venue while we sang it in the middle of her set, I would have believed you.”
Welch added of the collaboration: “‘Morning Elvis’ is a song about the power of performance. Of rock and roll tragedy and transcendence. And it’s a sign of a truly special artist when they make a cover their own. When [Ethel] sung this song it felt like it was hers. She really gave it that outlaw energy. Like witches of the Wild West. I even threw more lines at her on the day because her tone and cadence was so perfect I wanted to hear more. And she did not miss a line even with only an hour to rehearse.”
Meanwhile, earlier this month Welch explained why she’s changed her mind about TikTok after criticising the shortform video app this year.
Earlier in 2022 Welch was one of a host of largely female artists to complain about label pressures to post on TikTok, captioning a post: “The label are begging me for ‘low fi tik toks’ so here you go. pls send help.”
Others to complain included FKA twigs, who said she got “told off today for not making enough effort” and then deleted her TikTok account. Charli XCX and Self Esteem also joined the conversation, while Halsey said that their label “won’t let me” release a new song unless it “has a viral moment on TikTok”.
However, in a new interview with The New Yorker as part of an investigation on TikTok’s impact on the music industry, Welch said she has since warmed to TikTok and its “anarchic” audience across the year.
Beginning by saying she “actively [doesn’t] want to go viral,” Welch added: “Anytime anything of mine has gone remotely viral, it’s filled me with dread. Any kind of attention that is not directly related to the work or an album, I don’t want it.” She also argued, “My fans, the people who follow me, are not going to believe that I just suddenly decided to do TikTok.”
Revealing that she eventually gave in and posted the required videos, she added: “I was just, like, I am about to go into another meeting about this launch, and they are going to fucking ask me why haven’t I done something.”
After a TikTok of her singing the song ‘My Love’ went viral, Welch said that she found the process to be “anarchic and hilarious and weird in a way that I really enjoyed.”
Elsewhere, Florence + The Machine have announced the rescheduled dates for their postponed UK and Ireland tour.
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Charlotte Krol
NME
