BACKSTORY: From bedroom-pop enthusiast to Gucci model and back again, the 19-year-old multi-hyphenate is a quintessentially Gen Z artist
FROM: Born and raised in London
YOU MIGHT KNOW HER FROM: Viral anthems like “I Love This Song,” “Coffee Shop,” and “A Girl Like Me”
NOW: Having just unleashed her new summer smash “Boys,” flowerovlove will be prepping her Glastonbury debut and chipping away at an EP title Ache in My Tooth
Nothing hits harder than a teenage crush. Just ask UK pop star flowerovlove, who’s head-over-heels with the idea of being in love. “I’m obsessed,” the 19-year-old jokingly laments. “Cut me and I’ll bleed boys.” She even wrote a feel-good banger about her predicament: “Boys,” her first release of the year, picks up where 2023 hits “A Girl Like Me” and “Love You” left off—namely with toe-tapping beats and lyrics that double as a candid snapshot of modern-day adolescence.
Despite the plurality hinted at by the single’s title, flowerovlove reveals that it was written about one boy in particular. But amusingly, she didn’t want to give him “too much” focus, and decided to keep the lyrics general. “I was born to be a lovergirl, but I’m forced to be nonchalant,” she quips. “It’s just Gen Z culture, you have to act hot and cold.” It’s the kind of quiet insight you’ll find peppered across her burgeoning discography regardless of the genres of music she’s leaning into.
In some ways, “Boys” represents a departure for flowerovlove, who’s largely swam in the “alt” end of the music pool until now. “I’ve always wanted to go a little bit more pop,” she says, “but there will always be a twang of alternative.” The idea to experiment with a more accessible sound was hers alone. “I’m heavily involved in everything,” she says. “I wouldn’t just sit there and let things happen.”
“I was born to be a lovergirl, but I’m forced to be nonchalant. It’s just Gen Z culture, you have to act hot and cold.”
And there’s still room to express her indie roots. The Brit’s next upcoming single, “Breaking News,” was inspired by Rex Orange County’s 2017 hit “Loving Is Easy,” and a snippet of the song is already generating heat on TikTok. “I came into the session and said, ‘I want to write a love song,’” flowerovlove recalls. “I just wanted to write a love song, and it’s slightly inspired by a person I met recently,” she says with measured Gen Z indifference.
Unlike “Boys,” which she describes as a stand-alone summer anthem, “Breaking News” will be on flowerovlove’s upcoming EP, the strikingly titled Ache in My Tooth—which is the metaphor she uses to sum up adolescence. “Life is like a fucking toothache,” she says, particularly when feelings arise. “When you like someone, you think they’re sweet, but sugar gives you cavities—and a toothache is the most painful thing ever.”
It turns out that flowerovlove has been obsessing over boys for as long as she can remember. “I’m a true fangirl,” she says. And she’s not joking. In love with One Direction since she was six years old, the pop star still travels with an electric toothbrush that plays “What Makes You Beautiful.” “I’ve made fan pages, I waited outside tour buses, I was on stan Twitter," she laughs. “I’ve been in the trenches.”
“Life is like a fucking toothache. When you like someone, you think they’re sweet, but sugar gives you cavities—and a toothache is the most painful thing ever.”
With her profile rising, flowerovlove is starting to garner her own fanbase—a thought which still blows her mind. “If anyone loved me the way I worshiped Harry Styles, I don’t think I could process it,” she muses. “It’s really nice, but I’m just me.” Instead, flowerovlove sees her fans as friends. “They’re amazing people, and I love talking to them,” she says. “It’s just nice to know that even if I was alone in the world, I’d always have them.”
flowerovlove has come a long way from making tunes in her bedroom—or, more specifically, in her brother’s bedroom. Her brother learned how to produce music from YouTube and dared his then-13-year-old sister to sing over a beat. However, for flowerovlove, it wasn’t love at first recording session. Instead, she was more interested in modeling. “I got really big into the law of attraction and manifested a modeling job,” she says. “My first-ever booking was a Gucci campaign.”
But that didn’t sit well with her either. “I did it for maybe six months,” flowerovlove says, “but I got tired of being someone’s doll.” So she knocked on her brother’s bedroom door (again) and recorded an EP at the ripe old age of 15. Things really started popping off when she uploaded “I Love This Song” in 2022. But flowerovlove still had one obstacle in her way: school. So she left last year to pursue music full time—a gamble that’s already paid off.
As momentum grows and streams accumulate, flowerovlove has been dubbed the next big thing by Zane Lowe, among other influential voices. She’s booked a slot at Glastonbury this summer where she’ll perform on the Lonely Hearts stage. “My performance is going to be amazing, my outfit’s going to be fire, and my mic will be on,” she promises. The newcomer will even incorporate her fans in the mix by bringing revelers up on stage to share the adoration.
When asked how she got her moniker, flowerovlove reveals that the misspelling is simply due to the fact that her preferred Instagram handle was already taken. But she was determined to have a floral name. “Flowers grow in the summer and then they always fall down, but they’ll always grow back,” she tells me. “You should see yourself like that. No matter what happens in your life, you can always come back.” FL
