In the past few years, indie rockers Florence Road have become one of the most accomplished new music artists.
Thinking back to last year, they hadn’t played a single gig outside of Ireland. Now, the Wicklow four-piece have toured all around the globe and have opened for some of their musical idols, such as Olivia Rodrigo.
There’s more than just their touring milestones. They made it onto NME’s 100 of 2026, a list of the best emerging musical artists. Florence Road also featured on BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2026 long list, highlighting new artists heading towards success. They even have a Like A Version cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ Georgia under their belt
As well, they have two EPs released for 1.4 million monthly listeners to enjoy and have 36 million likes on the app to thank for it all, TikTok.
Florence Road are known for their covers of popular, trending tracks but with the quirky twist of filming through a 0.5x iPhone lens.
Over time, instead of staying in the safety zone of covers, they shifted their focus to promoting original songs. They treated TikTok as the starting point of their career before moving onto real projects in the industry. This is how they made the most out of their TikTok fame.
The History of Florence Road
Formed in 2019 by school friends Lily Aron (vocalist/guitarist), Emma Brandon (guitarist), Ailbhe Barry (bassist), and Hannah Kelly (drummer), Florence Road started out as a lunchtime cover band in their high school canteen.
In fact, the origin of the band is so important to them, that they are named after the street their school is on.
The same year, the quartet entered a music competition advertised at school. And they won. They got to live their dream of recording and releasing their debut single Another Seventeen.
This got them recognised by managers in the industry, landing them their first supporting slot for The Academic. From this, the band continued to get booked in venues around the Dublin area.
Currently, the band are signed with Warner Records and work alongside Dan Nigro, the producer behind hits from Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo.
Their TikTok Journey
The four-piece started off their TikTok journey by posting typical trends found on any Gen-Z band’s account. Think along the lines of ‘guess our drummer,’ ‘yearly recaps: band edition,’ and edited videos of Another Seventeen playing over coming-of-age movie clips.
The first two videos Florence Road posted were the ‘meet the band’ type, which to this day, neither have more than 26K views.
But their third post, a studio cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s Jealousy, Jealousy, was the first to blow up. Currently, it sits at just under 100K likes.
Funnily enough, their first TikTok to hit the 1M likes marker was a lunch time concert cover of the same song.
However, these numbers weren’t consistent until the band started implementing their comedy elements in the covers: Aron’s ocean-blue eyes staring deadpan into the camera as the phone flash casts a ghostly pale beam of light onto the band. The videos are so distinct and unique that the casual viewer is instantly drawn in.
Talking to DIY Magazine about their TikTok content, Aron said:
“I think we have a good approach to it and understand its value – and, in the grand scheme of things, it is easy to film a 30-second video and post it. We’re not doing open heart surgery! We’re able to have our fun with it, which is good. It’s never that serious.”
After testing this method across 2022 and 2023, it became the band’s primary forte. They knew if they wanted a viral video, comedy was the route to go down. These repetitive, 0.5x lens clips became immediately recognisable on the FYP, gradually gaining the band their own fan base who refer to themselves as Flo Roadies.
So much so, that when Paramore’s Hard Times became a micro-trending song between cover bands on TikTok, Florence Road’s remake swiftly became the most popular version, accumulating 7.4 million likes.
They even made their way onto the feeds of artists who they were covering. Way before Florence Road opened up her shows, Rodrigo commented on their cover of Obsessed to show her appreciation.
But this isn’t to say the band never stayed true to themselves; although some song-choices for their covers were to please the algorithm, many were the band’s favourite tracks. Now, from time to time, Florence Road will still upload their funky covers.
Their EPS
Shortly after they gained stable virality, covers were replaced with original songs, of course, still filmed in a comedic fashion.
One of the band’s main concerns is that no one in the real world would see them for anything more than being a ‘TikTok band.’ To the Rolling Stone, Aron explained that:
“We’re definitely trying to slide away from that. That was something we were nervous about when first releasing ‘Heavy.’ It was like, ‘Are people going to take it seriously and really see us as musicians?’ Because that’s who I feel we are.
So far, Florence Road have two released EPs: 2025’s Fall Back and 2026’s Spring Forward. They both carry similar sounds, infused with elements from their favourite artists.
Each member’s music taste is severely different. It strains from heavy rock acts like AC/DC and Metallica, to soft rock like Fleetwood Mac, New Wave acts like The Smiths and The Cure, to more modern music such as Beabadoobee. With this, Florence Road’s sound is truly unique to them. It’s easy to see how they became such stars so quickly.
Their original’s share similar sounds to songs from late 90s, early 2000s coming-of-age movies. Goodnight from their EP Fallback could easily fit on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack.
Florence Road masterfully balance that teenage angst narrative in songs like Heavy and Hanging Out To Dry, but also deeper topics like internal struggles and insecurities, for example, in Caterpillar and Storm Warnings.
Fans of grunge acts such as Hole or Veruca Salt are likely to enjoy Florence Road. Also, more pop artists, like Rodrigo or Wolf Alice are likely to share fans with the band, which makes sense as they were support acts for them both.
Touring
Now, Florence Road have extensive touring experience under their belts.
In the past year, they took off on two sold-out headline tours, including shows at iconic, notable venues such as Glasgow’s King Tuts and the band’s dream Dublin venue, 3Olympia Theatre.
And the fact that this is where they are is still unbelievable to the band. Ahead of their first UK show, they posted to their Instagram:
“A year ago we were all still in Lily’s shed, writing music with no idea where it might take us. Today, we are kicking off our first sold out UK Tour and have just been announced on the BBC sound of 2026 longlist. It’s overwhelming in the best way. Thank you for giving our songs a life far beyond what we imagined.”
In the midst of their own tours, Florence Road have built an impressive portfolio as support acts: Sombr around Europe, Kings Of Leon in Ireland, Royel Otis across Australia, and of course, Olivia Rodrigo at Dublin’s Marlay park and Hyde Park in London.
Performing to a London crowd of 65,000 people seems intimidating to most people, especially for artists that just broke onto the scene. But Aron experienced none of this.
Talking to The Irish Times, she said:
“It was such a big gig. I was waiting for the nerves to come in the weeks prior. But they never did. It was the first time I didn’t have impostor syndrome. I was just so excited. We couldn’t wait to play. I had a slight sense of, ‘We deserve this.’”
During the most recent run, supporting The Last Dinner Party in North America, the band started a touring series called From The Bunk on their TikTok.
Most include two or three of the girls squeezed into a tiny tour bus bunk bed, performing guitar covers of trending tunes like Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In and stripped-down guitar tracks like Sweet Creature by Harry Styles.
This time, they’ve ditched the 0.5x lens and have opted for a fisheye lens instead.
If any fans missed out on any of the previously mentioned ventures, Florence Road will be spending their summer on a festival run. BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland, Reading and Leeds, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, and Summer Sonic in Tokyo, take your pick.
Final Thoughts
Unlike other bands who found popularity on TikTok, Florence Road went down the path that felt right for them rather than what guaranteed audience engagement. They built a fanbase from their trending comedic skits then created their own identity as a band. They’ve made a name for themselves way beyond the TikTok world.
And they show no sign of stopping anytime soon. Surely, it can’t be long until fans get a full studio album.
