British R&B girl group FLO is back with “Cry Ugly,” a gorgeous new track that proves the trio can deliver just as much vulnerability as they can attitude. Released August 7, “Cry Ugly” arrives alongside FLO’s sophomore album, Therapy at the Club, and gives Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma and Renée Downer another opportunity to put those signature harmonies front and center.
“Cry Ugly” feels perfectly at home in the world FLO has created for Therapy at the Club. The new album explores the emotional roller coaster that can come with a night out — confidence, friendship, romance, heartbreak and those moments when all the feelings you were trying to escape suddenly catch up with you.
And sometimes, you just have to cry ugly.
There is something wonderfully relatable about that idea. This isn’t the glamorous single tear slowly rolling down your cheek while the lighting somehow remains perfect. This is about the kind of heartbreak that strips away the performance altogether. FLO embraces that vulnerability while still giving the song the polished R&B sound and intricate vocal arrangements that have become such an important part of their identity.
The track also highlights one of FLO’s greatest strengths: they genuinely sound like a girl group.
Rather than simply having three singers taking turns at the microphone, FLO uses their voices together. Harmonies weave around the lead vocals, backgrounds become part of the arrangement, and the three voices combine into the rich, layered sound that helped make groups like Destiny’s Child, En Vogue and SWV so irresistible.
That approach has helped make FLO feel simultaneously nostalgic and fresh. There are obvious echoes of the great R&B girl groups of the 1990s and early 2000s in their music, but Jorja, Stella and Renée aren’t interested in simply recreating the past. They are taking that tradition of powerhouse vocals, harmonies and personality and carrying it into a new generation.
“Cry Ugly” arrives with an official music video and serves as another showcase for Therapy at the Club, FLO’s 16-track second album. The project follows their Grammy-nominated debut album Access All Areas and finds the trio continuing to expand beyond the R&B sound that first introduced them to audiences.
Perhaps most importantly, “Cry Ugly” reminds us why FLO remains one of the most exciting girl groups working today. In an era when traditional vocal groups have become increasingly rare, FLO understands the magic of three distinctive voices becoming something even bigger when they sing together.
Sometimes therapy happens on a couch.
Sometimes it happens on the dance floor.
And apparently, sometimes you just have to cry ugly.
