Album: In Person (2000)
Charted: 2
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Songfacts®:

  • Sweet Female Attitude is a Manchester garage band, which at the height of their fame comprised Leanne Brown and Catherine Cassidy. Both singers were 20 years of age when this R&B-leaning ballad became their biggest hit; Brown was working in an unemployment benefits office and Cassidy was behind a bar.
  • Sweet Female Attitude originally recorded the song in 1999. It first attracted attention after the London label Reverb X snapped it up and commissioned a remix from English producer Sunship. The new version took off in the London garage scene and climbed the UK chart, peaking at #2.
  • Sunship's remix uses the same chord sequence as Erik Satie's late 19th century piano compositions "Trois Gymnopédies."
  • An original member of the Brand New Heavies, pianist Ceri Evans started producing and remixing under the alias Sunship after leaving the acid jazz band. Along with "Flowers," Sunship also achieved UK Top 5 success with his garage mixes of R&B girl group Mis-Teeq's "All I Want" and "One Night Stand."
  • Speaking to The Fader in 2019, Leanne Brown attributed the song's success to it being a catchy romantic tune at a time when most of the garage tracks were macho numbers. "We often came on stage after a really dark, bass-y song that's very masculine," she explained. "We'd come on with this fluffy girly song, and the guys would go for it as much as the girls."
  • Sweet Female Attitude's follow-up single, "8 Days A Week," peaked at #43 on the UK singles chart. Afterwards, the pair spent much of their time in Germany and Denmark promoting their brand on the European market. Catherine Cassidy left the group in 2014, leaving Brown to front Sweet Female Attitude, helped by her production team and DJ Nekxtman.
  • In 2020 DJ/producer Nathan Dawe's cover returned the song to the UK charts reaching #12. His twist on the original features verses from Birmingham rapper Jaykae.

    Bastille (featuring James Arthur) and Katy B have also recorded covers, while AJ Tracey cited "Flowers" as a major influence on his Top 3 single "Ladbroke Grove."

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