Matt Maltese releases new single "Florence"

03 April 2023, 14:42 | Written by Tyler Damara Kelly

(News)

(Matt Maltese)

"Florence" is the fourth and final single to be released from Maltese's fourth studio album, Driving Just To Drive.

Speaking about "Florence", Matt says: “This is a pretty old song that Josh [Scarbrow] convinced me to dig up from the grave and put on the album. I quite liked the idea of putting a song on the record that wasn’t really written at the same time as everything else. I’ve made a lot more peace with my greener, sincerer older songs that I wrote before I started making my first album, and songs like ‘Florence’ that have a multi-year gap between writing and recording often make for more interesting versions than the ones you write and record in the moment.”

He continues: “I wrote it after seeing a show (not Florence and the Machine) and it was right at the precipice of anger and acceptance with loss, and with life changing a lot. It kind of came at a moment in my life before I became a lot more set on bringing humour and self-deprecation into music, and around my first album being put together, I had come to find it far too sincere and ‘sweet’. Now I often come back to these older teenage songs years later and think their earnestness was actually something to be proud of, rather than cringe or make fun of, and I’m often trying to get closer to that, and still be funny sometimes (hopefully).”

Driving Just To Drive is the first full-length release from Maltese since his third album Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow arrived in 2021 and sees Maltese working with a producer for the first time in a while.

After collaborating with Joy Crookes, Celeste, Etta Marcus and more, Maltese better realised how he wanted to write for himself. “I’m bad at letting go to make someone else help me, but I’ve got better,” Maltese says. “Sharing those moments in real life with another person is just really nice. Josh hadn’t made an album before which I loved, and also working with someone my age ended up being really important.”

Maltese has recently collaborated with artists including Jamie T, Joy Crookes and Celeste, as well as earning famous supporters such as Doja Cat – who hosted an Instagram Live singalong of "Curl up & Die" from Maltese's second album Krystal – and Frank Ocean who played "Rom-Com Gone Wrong" on Blonded Radio, his Apple Music 1 radio show.