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South London's Florence + the Machine blend Baroque pop, pastoral folk, and artful alternative rock to create a rousing sound which they debuted on 2009's Lungs. Led by namesakes Florence Welch and Isabella "Machine" Summers, the group broke into the mainstream on the strength of their platinum singles "Dog Days Are Over," "You've Got the Love," and "Shake It Out," which were elevated by Welch's powerhouse vocals. As their first three releases topped U.K. charts, they made a steady climb in the U.S., hitting number six on the Billboard 200 with 2011's Ceremonials. In 2015, they secured their first Billboard number one with How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, which became a worldwide smash. That same year they headlined the Glastonbury Festival and returned to the Top Five of the global album charts with 2018's High as Hope. Following non-album singles like 2019's "Jenny of Oldstones" and 2020's "Light of Love," Welch and company released 2022's choreomania-influenced set Dance Fever.

Formed in 2007 by vocalist Welch and keyboardist Summers, Florence + the Machine released their debut single, "Kiss with a Fist," on the Moshi Moshi label in June 2008. Once a full band was recruited, they signed with Island Records in November. Their critically acclaimed debut album, Lungs, followed in July 2009 and quickly became one of the year's most popular releases in the U.K., where Florence charted four Top 40 singles in less than 12 months. The songs gathered steam in other parts of the world, too, particularly in America, where the anthemic "Dog Days Are Over" peaked at number 21 and went platinum. Lungs was reissued the following year in a two-disc package entitled Between Two Lungs, adding a bonus 12-track disc that featured live versions, remixes by the Horrors and Yeasayer, and Twilight soundtrack inclusion "Heavy in Your Arms."

In 2010, Florence + the Machine returned to the studio with producer Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Adele) to begin work on their second full-length outing. The resulting Ceremonials, which successfully expanded on the group's already huge sound, arrived on Halloween in 2011. In addition to the lead single "Shake It Out," the chart-topping set also included "No Light, No Light" and the Australian multi-platinum Top Three hit "Never Let Me Go."

The following year saw the release of CD and DVD versions of MTV Unplugged, an 11-track set filmed before a small studio audience that featured fan favorites along with a pair of covers, including "Try a Little Tenderness" and the Johnny Cash/June Carter classic "Jackson," the latter of which featured guest vocals by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. That same year, Welch announced an upcoming period of inactivity, during which time the band crafted its next record and Welch scored a chart-topping dance hit, "Sweet Nothing," with Scottish producer Calvin Harris.

Her third studio long-player, the Markus Dravs-produced How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, arrived in May 2015. Nominated for five Grammy Awards, it was the band's third consecutive number one U.K. album, topping charts in Australia, the U.S., and across Europe. A yearlong international tour and short film The Odyssey extended How Big's promotional cycle into 2016.

Their fourth effort, High as Hope, followed in 2018. Featuring production by Welch and Emile Haynie, the album included the singles "Sky Full of Song," "Big God," and "Hunger." Upon release, it entered the Top Three across the globe. While on the road promoting the effort, Welch issued the singles "Moderation" and "Jenny of Oldstones." The latter track appeared on the final season of television series Game of Thrones and became a modest chart hit.

Another single, "Light of Love," arrived in April 2020 as a charity song released in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with proceeds going to Britain's Intensive Care Society. Welch also contributed the song "Call Me Cruella" to the soundtrack to Disney's live-action 2021 film Cruella.

The Jack Antonoff co-produced "King" arrived in February 2022 as the first single released off the band's fifth studio album, Dance Fever. Antonoff joined Glass Animals' Dave Bayley and Kid Harpoon on production of the anthemic, healing LP, which also included the urgent hit singles "Free" and "My Love." Released that May, the album topped the U.K. Albums chart, as well as Billboard's Top Rock and Alternative charts. It peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200. ~ James Christopher Monger & Neil Z. Yeung

Ethel Cain's lilting voice and intimate adult alternative songs navigate melancholy moods and dreamy, reverb-heavy atmospheres. After using other aliases as a teen, she emerged as Ethel Cain with a series of EPs in the late 2010s and early 2020s before presenting her full-length debut, Preacher's Daughter, in 2022. Following appearances on concert bills with acts like Mitski and Florence + the Machine, her darker second album, Perverts, arrived in 2025.

Born in Tallahassee to a church deacon and his wife, Cain was homeschooled throughout her formative years in northern Florida and sang in the church choir from a young age. Soon after discovering the music of Florence + the Machine, Cain wrote her first album's worth of material on a Casio keyboard around the age of 15. Though she left the church at 16 and came out as a transgender woman at the age of 20, gospel hymns, along with alternative music, pop, and classic rock, would help inform her songwriting. First recording under the aliases White Silas and Atlas, she released her first mixtape at the age of 19 before making her Ethel Cain debut with the song "Bruises" a couple years later in August 2019. The EPs Carpet Bed and Golden Age quickly followed in September and December of that year. After connecting with style-adjacent singer/songwriter Nicole Dollanganger on social media, Cain opened a show for her in Chicago, also in 2019.

In mid-2020, Cain moved from Florida to Indiana, where she recorded her third EP, Inbred. It included the single "Michelle Pfeiffer" featuring rapper Lil Aaron. She issued a cover of Britney Spears' "Everytime" in early 2022 before releasing her first album that May. Titled Preacher's Daughter, it arrived on her own Daughters of Cain label. The record was well-received and led to opening slots for Florence + the Machine, Caroline Polachek, and Mitski, among others. Cain contributed a song to the tribute album American Football (Covers) in October 2024, the same month she offered up the elegiac single "Punish" ahead of her sophomore LP. The self-produced Perverts followed on Daughters of Cain in January 2025. ~ Marcy Donelson