"Cardboard Box" is the debut single by British girl group

Flo ''Flo'' is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of ''Alice'' that aired on CBS from March 24, 1980, to June 30, 1981. The series starred Polly Holliday reprising her role as sassy and street-smart waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castl ...

from their debut EP, ''

The Lead The Lead (Chinese: 第一主角) is a 30-episode Singaporean drama produced and telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8. The show aired at 9pm on weekdays and had a repeat telecast at 8am the following day. The show is Channel 8's mid-year blockbuster ...

'' (2022). The group co-wrote the song alongside Savannah Jada and

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK (, ), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Awards, Brit Award, and has received the ...

, the latter of whom also handled the song's production. The single was released for digital download and streaming through

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

on 24 March 2022 as the lead single from the EP. A pop and R&B song, it features the group's harmonised vocals over a

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

-inspired beat with elements of 2000s music. Lyrically, the song describes moving on from an unfaithful romantic partner. Upon its release, the song gained popularity through

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and

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Background

After their formation in 2019, the group spent two years working on music with producers including

. "Cardboard Box" was one of the first songs worked on during these sessions. The single was subsequently released on 24 March 2022. An accompanying music video was published to YouTube on 1 April 2022, which surpassed 900 thousand views within days. A Tweet containing a clip from the music video also attracted over 2 million views and 100 thousand likes on

. The single has been praised on social media by established artists including

SZA Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she began making music in the early 2010s, releasing two extended plays before signing with the hip ...

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

JoJo Jojo, JoJo or Jo Jo is a given name, surname, nickname or stage name used by several people and fictional characters, including: People with the given name, nickname or stage name Musicians *JoJo (singer) (born 1990), American R&B singer, songwri ...

, and

Victoria Monét Victoria Monét McCants (born May 1, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. She became involved in performing arts at a young age, singing in the youth choir at her church, and performing in a city dance team. She soon took ...

. "Cardboard Box" was featured as the lead single for their debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, ''The Lead'' (2022). An acoustic version of the song was released to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and streaming services on 27 May 2022. The group also performed the single for ''Vevo DSCVR'', alongside the second single from ''

'', "Immature". The group made their television debut on 7 October 2022, performing the single on US talk show ''

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'' In August 2022, "Cardboard Box" started gaining popularity on the platform

after an

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version emerged, starting a new trend on the video-sharing app. The group officially released DJ

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's remix as a single and premiered a lyric video on 6 October 2022.

Track listings

*Streaming/digital download – remix # "Cardboard Box" (

Remix) – 2:30 # "Cardboard Box" – 2:41 * Streaming/digital download – versions # "Cardboard Box" (Sped Up) – 2:18 # "Cardboard Box" (Acoustic) – 2:53 # "Cardboard Box" (Studio Vocals) – 2:41 # "Cardboard Box" (Instrumental) – 2:41

Accolades

Charts

Release history

References

{{reflist 2022 songs 2022 debut singles Flo (group) songs Songs written by MNEK Island Records singles