In a time — not so long ago — girl groups gave us songs that held us together when we were falling apart.
There was that song you’d put on repeat when your heart was breaking, letting the words wash over you again and again until they had somehow bore into your soul and given you the strength to move on (or at least get off the couch).
For a while, that era seemed long gone. But FLO’s latest single is reaching back and reminding us all of what we’ve been missing.
“Therapy at the Club,” the titular track off their anticipated sophomore album — set to drop on July 10 — is not this year’s summer-turn-up piece. It’s softer and more intimate. It’s the song that reminds you that it’s ok to leave behind the one that’s not right for you.
“Go run your mouth to a stranger/ ’cause their arms feel safer
Than telling the man that you love/ That he’s not enough…”
In just a few lines, FLO, comprised of Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer, and Stella Quaresma, captures the quiet heartbreak of realizing love alone can’t save a relationship and accepting when someone can no longer love you the way you deserve.
The song leans heavily into layered harmonies and emotional storytelling, and its accompanying video unfolds like a cinematic dream. It’s intimate and immersive enough that we can give our pain over to it for four minutes.
Through all these elements, FLO is tapping into something girl groups used to do exceptionally well: making heartbreak feel like something we can get through together instead of just on our own.
In the ‘90s and early 2000s, those songs were abundant, giving a soundtrack to our fragile emotions: Destiny’s Child’s “Girl” was there, reassuring us they had our back when he wasn’t acting right. En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go (Love)” expressed the agony we feel over someone we truly needed to be more than just a friend. And SWV’s catalog was built for every pang of longing, romance, and heartbreak we felt.
These songs prioritized friendship and healing, though long phone calls and late-night convos. They were group chat energy before group chats existed.
And now, across TikTok and social media, there’s a growing nostalgia for that energy; old clips of girl groups harmonizing and moving in sync are going viral. Not only because the music was good, but because that sisterhood and softness were something that we could understand and emulate.
There’s something comforting about music that reminds us that we don’t have to carry heartbreak alone, a lyrical path through passion and pain.
FLO understands that, and they’re delivering, right on time.