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Flo: Access All Areas review – skilful R&B revivalists need to get their freak on a bit more
The trio bring gorgeous vocals and spiky attitude to 90s-facing songs – but they need a little more of that era’s oddball invention, as well as an undeniable hit
SZA is apparently a fan; Missy Elliott guested on their 2023 single Fly Girl; rapper GloRilla turned up on this year’s In My Bag; and MNEK, who has collaborated with Madonna, Beyoncé and Dua Lipa, has been their chief producer from the start. Now it’s the turn of the award-winning star of Wicked to do her thing on the intro to Access All Areas, announcing Flo’s mission – “bad bitch replenishment”, apparently – and listing their inspirations: they are, we’re told, “receiving the baton passed on by Destiny’s Child, the Sugababes, SWV”. It feels different – in recent years, the genre has been almost entirely ruled by solo artists – and, moreover, it chimes with UK rap’s rash of 90s and early 00s R&B samples and a broader nostalgia in pop for the era of Napster and MTV Total Request Live.
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