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Music

Florrie Flips Through Her Old Photo Albums

This chic English pop star has been bashing the drums since she was in single digits and here she takes us through some intimate pics from her past.

In January English pop singer Florrie announced her collaboration with H&M, lead by sparky pop track "Too Young To Remember," which makes us pine for the spring thaw so we can dance around in bare legs. (It'll happen guys, the days are already getting lighter!).

This year the 26-year-old singer—who also happens to be a kick-ass drummer—will release her long-awaited debut album. Those unfamiliar with her should know that she's been dropping excellent EPs for a few years now, having spent time working with pop production powerhouse Xenomania (Sugarbabes) and smacking skins for the likes of British group Girls Aloud. She cut her teeth bashing the drums along to the Spice Girls in her bedroom (and the bathroom according to the pics below), so you know hooks are big on the agenda. In addition to writing music, Florrie is also a style maven—as well as her partnership with H&M, she's collaborated with Dolce & Gabbana (in the video for giddy synth-pop tune "I Took a Little Something"), and she was the face of Nina Ricci's Nina L'Elixir perfume (performing Blondie's "Sunday Girl" in the glossy, pastel-perfect commercial). With all this in mind we made Florrie dig into her old photo albums to talk us through her music and stylistic evolution.

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Florrie: This is me drumming when I was seven-years-old. In the bathroom! My mum and Dad obviously wanted to put me as far away from the neighbors as possible! Haha. Actually I think I just liked that it made everything even louder. I remember the first time I saw a drum kit. It was on holiday in Greece in a little cafe next door to where we were staying and it was love at first sight. I still play now and drumming is what got me into music in the first place and has been a big part of my career so far. I started my own rock/pop girl band when I was at secondary school and I spent three years after I left school as a session drummer in London and even now I have a stand-up drumkit I play on stage during my live shows. I also still play with bare feet!

This is me messing around in the studio kitchen a few years ago! I think this was the day I bought my Fender Tele which I still play now. I probably sent this to my dad as he used to be in a rock 'n' roll band and one of his LP covers was him doing the same pose with the white shades! This is the studio and production house Xenomania where I started as the in-house drummer in 2009 and where I have written and recorded all of my songs ever since. It’s this big house in the countryside full of amazing creative musicians and songwriters. I feel like the studio is my second home as I've been there for so long and I've learnt so much! It's where I really grew as an artist and I've been lucky to have had the time and space to experiment with my sound over the years and release music independently before I signed to a major label.

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Here I am with my best friend Annie, before one of my gigs in London at the Hoxton Kitchen. I've known Annie since I was 11 and we're super close. She now plays keys in my band and we've spent a lot of time on the road together… and living together! I've also written a lot of my album with her. We both were both trying out new looks for this one clearly!! It took FOREVER to get my hair to go like that (I have a lot of hair) I love that we look like two crazy aunts!

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Me and Fred Falke. Fred is a brilliant musician, DJ and songwriter and I wrote the first track I ever released with him—a track called "Call 911" —and it was the first time anybody had seen or heard of me. He really helped to introduce me to a lot of his fans and definitely helped to kickstart my career as a solo artist. It got a really good response online and I still play a version of the track, a kind of mash-up, in my set now. I normally end the show with it as it’s got so much energy and ends with a bang!! It's actually difficult to put it anywhere else in the setlist! I love these photos. This is me and my friend Phoebe Arnold, we're not actually sisters but lots of people think we are as we have the same surname. Phoebs is now Senior Editor of LOVE and she has really educated me in the world of fashion over the last few years. I've worked with various fashion brands and mostly because they have liked what I'm doing with my music and I feel like they would be a good fit. I get asked quite a lot in interviews what it’s like to be a model, but I see myself first and foremost as a musician and always will. I think one complements the other and I've been lucky enough to have been embraced by the fashion world too. One gig that I will always remember is playing a show for Prada on the top floor of the tallest building in the world in Shanghai. The band and I flew out there for two days, did the show and then came back. It was a total whirlwind and definitely one of the most glamorous shows I've ever played!! (via Guest of a Guest)
This is me and Annie again on Halloween 2012 in LA. We were there for two weeks on a writing trip and were SO excited to spend Halloween in America. This photo really makes me laugh for so many reasons. We saw an ad in our hotel saying they were throwing a Halloween Party, but missed a very crucial part of the invite that it was "Arabian Nights themed," so we turn up like this and EVERYONE else is dressed like Ali Baba. I'm the zebra, she was the rabbit. There were four other people in our group too, a cow, an army general, a gorilla and actually Fred Falke was a genie, so almost got it right. People thought we were mad. This is a photo that was shot quite recently by Rankin. I've been a big fan of his work for a long time and it was an honor to finally work with him. My label asked me who I would like to shoot my album campaign shots and when I said Rankin they said that it would be near impossible to get him. So I sent him a message on Twitter and explained what I was doing and asked if he'd be up for it and he was :) I was SO happy when he wrote back saying he'd love to do it. The actual shoot was amazing too, he really involved me in all of the creative decisions and I asked a LOT of questions, I'm quite inquisitive like that, and when someone’s wiling to answer them all I really appreciate it. Although there were lots of other people, from my team and his team in the room, it felt like it was just the two of us. Genuinely a day I will never forget.

"Too Young to Remember" is out via Sony on 3.8.