Schoolgirl by day and pop star by night, flowerovlove invites you to A Moshpit In The Clouds, a positive place of self-love and confidence.
Flowerovlove sprouted from Joyce Cisse’s subconscious and, single by single, grew roots in the charts and hearts worldwide. 17-year-old South Londoner charms with pretty nostalgia and unwithering self-belief. Ever since debuting with ‘Kiss & Chase’ in 2020, flowerovlove has been on the run to capture the rays of sun, fleeting happiness and soft mornings to pack them all neat in her music. It’s one of the best goody bags out there with 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Flowerovlove’s magic will cheer you up unconditionally.
Her newest EP A Moshpit In The Clouds is an invitation to a world where there are no limits to what we can achieve. The record will be your new best friend during chill-out hangouts with friends and thrilling days alone, exploring the comfort of your own company. From becoming a social media’s positive influence, singer-songwriter sensation and face of Gucci, flowerovlove wants to share her success. The first step is to believe it’s possible, the rest is up to you. The artist’s philosophy gracefully lives in catchy choruses, introspective lyrics and playful visuals. It feels like spring no matter the season.
While living the life of an (extra)ordinary teenager in London, flowerovlove juggles between school and career like a modern-age Hannah Montana. Sometimes inspiration just can’t wait. That’s the case of Joyce who inspired by anything from sleeping on Saturdays to blue city skies’ breaths the need for expression. Her music is a homage to the bright side, not overlooking the problems but approaching them from a fresh, innocent perspective. It’s an old philosophy that flowerovlove has been lucky enough to understand early on. Today, we talk to the artist about the fake it ‘till you make it attitude, favourite cartoons and the joys of creation…
Who is Flowerovlove? Do you treat her as an alter ego?
I’d say flowerovlove is Joyce. Flowerovlove is not an alter ego. She’s an extension of me, but flowerovlove is more of an experience than a person.
In your single, ‘Hannah Montana’, you’re talking about navigating between two completely different lifestyles. As a contemporary Hannah Montana, how do manage to balance it all?
It’s really a struggle because at first when I was getting into the whole music thing and still in school, I didn’t really have a schedule. It was just a lot of stress and when it piles up, it’s not good for your mental health. So, I eventually got a schedule and cut it down to a couple of hours of school and prioritized music. I guess that’s how I manage it now, just by having a very structured schedule of what I’m doing day to day, and I never think about what I’m doing tomorrow.
Your new EP A Mosh Pit The Clouds is out now. Would you talk me through the world you’ve created there?
I think the message has gotten across because I got a message yesterday from someone and they were like, ‘Joyce you’ve inspired me so much and you show us that you’ve done it so we can do it too’, which is the only thing I ever want people to feel from my music or just from me being. I say the universe I’ve created around A Mosh Pit In The Clouds is the idea that I can do it, so you can do it too, and be able to love yourself to an extent.
‘Get With You’ is such a beautiful visual metaphor for the chase to be. What do you do to make sure you’ll get there?
Consistency is really important, and also confidence. I think everything is a mentality. So having a strong, good, positive mentality and consistency.
‘I Gotta I Gotta’ is one of my favourite songs on the EP together with the video. Do you want to tell us a bit about working on both?
‘I Gotta I Gotta’ was really, really fun, actually. It’s the second funniest song I’ve ever made because I had no idea what to do for the chorus. My brother was like, ‘What if you just made it a sound? That could be really cool’. Then, he said something very similar to what it is now. We tried it as a joke. It sounded really good. It has a nursery rhyme, and childish element, but also, it’s this banger of a song anyone at any age can enjoy. It was really fun. The ‘Get With You’ video was directed by my brother, actually, but the idea of me stalking myself was mine. We thought, oh, let’s do it in L.A. because the lighting is always nice in L.A. and it’s a change of scenery because all my videos are always shot in London.
I really like the cartoon part in that video. Have you got any favourite cartoons or anime?
Oh, my God, I don’t watch anime. I’ve just always wanted to be animated. My favourite cartoon is Timothy Goes to School. I grew up watching it and I still watch it now. I also love Charlie and Lola.
How did your experience of living in London inform this record?
It’s a good question. I write from life experience. So just living in London and being around the beautiful surroundings of London, I go on a lot of walks in the city. I feel like London is a city of freedom, which gives me the freedom to write about anything I want. I literally wrote a song about how I like to sleep on Saturday, which is ‘Saturday Yawning’. London just inspires me unconsciously.
You always seem like a very confident person with an infectious good aura. Where does that unstoppable belief come from?
That’s so nice. I think it’s because I actually like myself a lot. First impressions are very important and just showing people how kind you can be because when someone is nice to you, it makes your day and then it makes you want to be nice to the next person. That’s honestly all it’s about, and I feel like everyone deserves to be treated very well.
There’s still a conviction in society that we need someone else around to fully enjoy, and fulfil ourselves, from lovers, and family to friends. Though your art breaks that illusion a bit. How did you come to terms with being in your company?
It helped me a lot to find myself. When I did, it took about a year or something, which is about consistently trying to find myself. I feel like that just rubs off in my music because I have nothing else to write about. It’s not like I’m doing the ‘I’ll get my heart broken’ thing. I just write about my life experience and just the good things. But on the EP, I think that there’s an anomaly track that seems to be about heartbreak but it’s actually about a really bad performance that occurred at a festival. That is what heartbreak feels like for me.
Social media can be a best friend and an enemy, what’s your relationship with social media like now?
Social media is my best friend to me always because that’s how I communicate with friends, and I love them. I wouldn’t say it’s an enemy. But sometimes it’s like, ‘I don’t want to be around you right now’ because we all get into a spiral of being a bit addicted and it’s like, ‘Why am I still scrolling when I want to be doing something else, but I can’t stop?’. We all get into a habit and it’s just because our brains become trained to scroll on social media. But for me, most of the time, social media is my best friend.
If flowerovlove would be a superhero, who would she be?
She would be someone like Wizards of Waverly Place. I’d have a wand and I’d like to go around and make people feel good about themselves and all of that.
Making music is a great way to find out new things about yourself through creative expression. What has been the most interesting thing that you have found out about yourself?
I guess that I’m a subconscious writer because I just say stuff and then I go back to lyrics and I’m telling a story. I feel like a poet sometimes. I found that I’m really cool. I’m a really good writer. But I did get good grades in English GCSE, so it makes sense.
Do you have a dream artist to collaborate with?
Harry Styles. No one else.
What’s been the proudest moment of your career so far?
The first time I got recognized by someone in public. I was going to Pret with my friend. I was showing her around London because she lives in Paris. Then, a girl was waiting outside with her family. Then, as soon as I stepped out, she was in tears and shaking. She was like, ‘Oh, my God’. I even remember her name and exactly what she looks like, but I just walked up. I was in a massive rush, so I couldn’t stay and chat. It was really cool because I didn’t even have that many songs out then. It was like, ‘oh, my God, this is real’. It’s not just on my phone.
What message would you like your fans to take away from the new EP?
That you can do anything you want. You just have to go for it. I know that sounds so genuine. Like, what do you mean? Just go for it. But it’s a mentality. Just believe that you can have whatever you want, and it will come to you. You don’t have to really do anything, to be honest. You just have to fake to make it.
Listen to flowerovlove’s ‘A Mosh Pit In The Clouds’ below now…
