Florence + the Machine Is 'King'

After having teased fans with mailed out letters and cards hinting at the beginning of a new era for the band earlier this week, Florence + the Machine is officially back with their latest single "King." Full of strumming guitars and the singer's signature wails of gumption and intensity, the track sees Florence Welch rejecting traditional gender roles such as "mother" and "bride" and instead crowning herself king in what amounts to a bold, defiant feminist statement.

"As an artist, I never actually thought about my gender that much. I just got on with it," Florence said in a statement about the song. "I was as good as the men and I just went out there and matched them every time. But now, thinking about being a woman in my thirties and the future, I suddenly feel this tearing of my identity and my desires. That to be a performer, but also to want a family might not be as simple for me as it is for my male counterparts."

Florence then went on to touch on how she had to "model" herself off a template created "almost exclusively [by] male performers," whereas her subsequent work on songs like "King" was "the first time I felt a wall come down between me and my idols as I have to make decisions they did not."

"King" arrives alongside a new Autumn de Wilde-directed music video that sees Welch living her best witch coven life. Giving off Suspira-mixed-with-The Craft vibes, the visual has everything from Welch snapping a guy's neck and frenzied dance sequences, to flowing cloaks and a lot of spooky floating around.

Check out the music video for Florence + the Machine's latest single "King" below.

Photography: Autumn de Wilde