THERAPY AT THE CLUB

R&B trio FLO—Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer and Stella Quaresma—notched four years of life experience between the release of their 2022 debut EP, <i>The Lead</i>, and <i>THERAPY AT THE CLUB</i>, their genre-hopping second album. The music reflects their developing maturity—both as artists and individuals. “I think we knew with this album that it was a grown FLO making an album, as opposed to FLO that are really learning how to make an album,” Quaresma tells Apple Music’s Dotty. <i>THERAPY AT THE CLUB</i> takes the winningest features of 2024 debut album <i>Access All Areas</i>—namely the group’s athletic vocal prowess—and transfers them to brassy <i>Back to Basics</i>-era Christina Aguilera beats (<b>“Remedied”</b>), West Coast G-funk (<b>“I can’t be high around you anymore”</b>), the expertly harmonised R&B of throwback solidarity anthem <b>“Don’t Break Her Heart”</b> and more besides. On an album co-written and produced by hitmakers including Julian Bunetta, Sevyn Streeter and Lostboy, FLO are the key ingredient thickening up the mix, with a layer of their own personal perspective and another of melodic tricks and flourishes performed almost for the sport of it. It makes for their most varied body of work yet. “It wouldn’t reflect us and our experiences if the songs all had a similar sonic—that doesn’t really describe what we’re going through,” says Douglas. “Whilst we’re still in this period of the highs and the lows and meeting lots of different people and experiencing different things, our music is going to reflect that, which is kind of the point.”