In the two years since FLO’s sublime debut album, ‘Access All Areas’, much has changed. Not only have the British trio helped pave the way for an Anglophone girl group renaissance – they’re now joined by the likes of Say Now, Katseye, 3Quency, to name a few – but have since been on NPR’s Tiny Desk, clinched a Grammy nomination and are even set to tour Asia. To say they’ve levelled up is quite the understatement. But has their music kept pace?

• READ MORE: Growth, girlhood, and getting down: for FLO, ‘Therapy At The Club’ captures the spirit of life and love in your twenties

Leading up to the release of ‘Therapy At The Club’, Jorja, Renée and Stella told NME they “wanted to venture out on our own and develop our talent as songwriters and singers”. Notably, MNEK, who co-wrote and co-produced the lion’s share of their prior releases, is largely absent with only one credit on the new album. Instead, the trio venture out to try a slew of new things – sounds, collaborators, and even the album’s structure, which tells a loose story about the ups and downs of a night out at the club – to mostly satisfying results.

Not all’s new on the record; FLO are still doing R&B songs like seasoned pros. Take album centrepiece ‘Therapy At The Club’, where they reunite with singer-songwriter Amma (co-writer of 2024’s ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’) for old-school girl group vibes with silky harmonies and lyrics that cut deep (“Go run your mouth to a stranger / ’Cause their arms feel safer / Than telling the man that you love”). There is a good number of standout R&B moments on the record – including the vulnerable ‘Cry Ugly’, the Xscape-esque ‘Don’t Break Her Heart’, album highlight ‘I Can’t Be High Around You’ – that will please fans of their debut, but it’s clear elsewhere that the trio have their sights set on becoming true pop sensations.

With all the hitmakers they’ve recruited – Julian Bunetta (Gracie Abrams, Teddy Swims), Steph Jones (Sabrina Carpenter, JADE), Amy Allen (Olivia Dean, Tate McRae), among others – it’s not surprising that many parts of ‘Therapy At The Club’ are more pop-forward. Leading the charge is their viral hit ‘Leak It’, which is reminiscent of the best of 2000s British girl groups, but electric guitar-driven bad bitch anthem ‘Touché’ and its fun chorus (“I’m a cunt, I’m a bitch, I’m the shit, I must say”), high-energy banger ‘Remedied’ and ’80s synth-pop closer ‘Haterbooth’ all give it a run for its money.

With so many cooks in the kitchen, some questionable impulses go unchecked – especially in the album’s second half. ‘Pose’ sounds as dated as its misguided ‘Pump Up The Jam’ sample, while ‘Sex In Peace’ is simultaneously sleepy and too busy – beatbox production, ad-libs galore and one too many vocal stacks – and wastes a perfectly good Kwn feature. And even though ballads ‘Floating’ and ‘Miss U Missing Me’ are lovely vocal showcases, they can be a slog to get through. The album’s cohesion suffers as a result of its scattershot direction, even if their mainstream ambitions have led them to undeniable pop gems.

Much like an actual night out, after a fun start, things get messy, alcohol blurs the memory, and ‘Therapy At The Club’ becomes disjointed at the end. The teething pains of a second album are clear to see, but it’s exciting to watch FLO pushing beyond the R&B sound they’ve already perfected, and the highs of ‘Therapy…’ prove there’s much more ground for the trio to cover.

Details

• Record label: EMI
• Release date: August 7, 2026