Florence Welch says she now realises “you don’t have to date bad people to make good songs”.
The singer, known for her eponymous rock band Florence + The Machine, appears in the May issue of British Vogue, in which she discusses her new music, motherhood and being sober during lockdown.
Welch’s fifth studio album Dance Fever is due to be released next month on May 13.
The Brit award winner told Vogue the new album was “Lungs (her debut album) with more self-knowledge”.
“I’m kind of winking at my own creation,” she said.
“A lot of it is questioning my commitment to loneliness; to my own sense as a tragic figure.
“I feel like as a female artist you spend a lot of time screaming into the void for people to take you seriously, in a way that male artists just don’t have to do.”
She added: “You don’t have to date bad people to make good songs.”
On the topic of having both a family and a career, and what might dissuade her from the former, Welch said she is “afraid”.
“It seems like the bravest thing in the world to have children. It’s the ultimate measure of faith and of letting go of control,” she said.
“I feel like to have a child and to let that amount of love in…I’ve spent my life trying to run away from these big feelings.
“I think I’ve had a stilted emotional immaturity just through having been in addiction and eating disorders for years.”
The singer has been open about her struggles with her mental health and has been sober for eight years.