MUMBAI: Today, history making British girl group FLO collaborate with history making American rapper Missy Elliott for the new era of the “Fly Girl”. The BRIT Rising Star and BBC Sound Of 2023 winners FLO reimagine the Fly Gal for their fans, first established in Missy’s legendary song “Work It” in 2002. “If you a fly girl, get your nails done, get a pedicure, get your hair did, see you telling me I’m pretty but it’s obvious, I don’t need a man to tell me where the party is,” FLO immaculately harmonise over executive producer MNEK’s high-octane, pulsating beat – the perfect fusion of old school R&B meets modern day R&B and girl group pop superstardom. Missy Elliott first co-signed FLO back in April 2022, when she heard their breakthrough single “Cardboard Box ” and shared the British girl group on Twitter well before the world knew their name. “I remember a few of their fans sent me clips of their performances, and I immediately felt the authentic 90’s vibe. I loved the fact they all sang lead so well—great vocal control—so when I was asked to be a part of the ‘Fly Girl’ record, it was a no brainer,” says Missy.
FLO, being huge fans of Missy, sampled “Work It” and found inspiration in her lyrics, “If you’re a fly gal, get your nails done, get a pedicure, get your hair did”. When the GRAMMY and MTV Award winning legendary rapper and producer heard “Fly Girl” for the first time, she loved the tune so much she laid down an original rap, “They used the inspiration from my song ‘Work It’, and I felt they did it justice. I enjoyed it and I believe they have a long, great career ahead of them,” adds Missy Elliott. In the official video, directed by former dancer for Beyonce Tajana Tokyo (Ari Lennox, Channel Tres), Stella, Renée and Jorja invite their Fly Girls to come and party with them at the club of FLO, with the music video queen Missy making a formidable entrance.
“Working with FLO has been nothing less than amazing. I remember a few of their fans sent me clips of their performances, and I immediately felt the authentic 90’s vibe. I loved the fact they all sang lead so well—great vocal control—so when I was asked to be a part of the ‘Fly Gir’ record, it was a no brainer. They used the inspiration from my song ‘Work It’, and I felt they did it justice. I enjoyed it and I believe they have a long, great career ahead of them.” – Missy Elliott
Related Post
“Fly Girl is all about confidence, good vibes and feeling your best. It’s a lively, feel good song that still incorporates clever lyrics and fire vocals, if we do say so ourselves. It’s quite literally a perfect fusion of old school meets modern day rnb, with a nod to and feature from the original fly girl Missy Elliott herself. We love it and are so happy to be putting out a song that can hopefully make whoever plays it feel confident and most importantly, FLY.” – FLO
Gracing the covers of ES Magazine “first came Spice Girls, then came Sugababes, Little Mix, and now FLO” and NME, “one of the most-talked about groups on the planet” as well as attending the Loewe Fashion show in Paris alongside the likes of Naomi Campbell and Edward Enningful, the London-based award winning girl group show no signs of slowing down, as they prepare to headline their first ever UK show at Here at The Outernet on 30 March, which sold out in under 2 minutes, followed by New Century Hall in Manchester on 3 April. FLO then head to North America for 9 headline shows across 9 cities, performing at iconic venues from Toronto’s Opera House, New York’s Webster Hall, to the infamous Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. FLO have become the hottest festival act to see this summer, as they play Sol Blume in Sacramento alongside Kehlani, Pharell’s Something in The Water, Dublin’s Longitude festival, to Glastonbury, TRNSMT Festival, Wireless Festival, and two dates at Summersonic in Japan.
Almost a year since FLO released their debut single “Cardboard Box”, the song has now amassed 100M global streams, with their debut EP “The Lead” reaching over 300M streams to date. Wanting to thank fans for their support, FLO released “Losing You” at the end of last year, an R&B slow jam that showcases three voices so connected with each other and their growth as the most remarkable vocalists coming out of the UK music scene, even catching the attention of British rapper Stormzy. Stella, Renée and Jorja were invited to collaborate with Stormzy on the remix for “Hide & Seek”, after he tweeted “ready when you are girls” following a Capital XTRA video of the group speaking about their dream UK collaboration. Stormzy sent a video message to FLO about the collaboration and also told them the incredible news that they had won the BBC Sound Of 2023, which you can watch here.
Having been the first group to ever win the BRIT Rising Star, FLO now follow in the footsteps of global superstars including Adele, Sam Smith and Celeste who all started their career with both accolades. Believing in their “vision from day one”, FLO have become the most hotly tipped British music act of the year, nominated for Best Newcomer at the MOBOs where they made their sublime debut UK TV Awards performance, as well as winning cult platform No Signal’s Yearbook Top Of The Class accolade, breaking records with thousands of votes. FLO were also personally invited to join PinkPantheress at her Boiler Room, with the former BBC Sound Of winner cited Summertime as her favourite track, as well as winning MTV’s Push campaign 2023. But at the heart of FLO are three ambitious young women – 20 year-old Renée and 21 year olds Jorja and Stella – whose immaculate three part harmonies, contemporary take on 00s R&B and era-defining music videos have connected with hundreds of thousands of R&B fans globally.
Winning fans from R&B and hip-hop luminaries such as Brandy, JoJo, SZA, Victoria Monét and Missy Elliott, as well as girl group royalty – none other than Destiny’s Child’s Kelly Rowland and Sugababes, “Cardboard Box” has become the biggest girl group opening statement in over a decade and was the first song FLO ever wrote together as a group, with executive producer and long time friend MNEK. FLO have since gone on to perform the track on their first late night TV show Jimmy Kimmel, their UK TV debut on Later.. with Jools Holland, The Glamour Women Of The Year Awards, as well as the MOBOs. FLO also picked up their first award as “Music Artist To Watch” at the inaugural GUAP Gala, and a nomination for ‘Best Female Act’ at the Rated Awards 2022, alongside Little Simz, Mahalia and Cleo Sol. Having all been raised by powerful single mothers and understanding the gravity, hustle and tenacity of picking this career path, it’s FLO’s sister bond that runs deep and continues to grow as they are catapulted into the public consciousness, raised by their unparalleled support and fanbase.
