"Flowers" is the debut single by

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

duo

Sweet Female Attitude Sweet Female Attitude is an electronic music act from Manchester, England. They are known for the UK garage remix by Sunship of their track "Flowers", written by Martin Green a.k.a. Shine MC and Mike Powell, which reached number two on the U ...

, released on 3 April 2000. The song uses the same chord sequence as

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

's ''Trois Gymnopédies'', and the actual piece can be heard in the version by The House & Garage Orchestra, from the 2018 album ''

Garage Classics ''Garage Classics'' is the debut album by the House & Garage Orchestra, released on 30 November 2018 on the New State Music label. It was released on CD and as a digital download. The album was produced by Darren Tate and Alex Mereier (Shy Cookie ...

''. The song peaked at number two on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

with first-week sales of about 80,500. It went on to become the United Kingdom's 37th biggest-selling single of 2000 and received a platinum certification from the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

(BPI) for sales and streams of at least 600,000. The duo's subsequent releases failed to replicate the commercial success of “Flowers”, with the song being described as a "

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

" for Sweet Female Attitude. "Flowers" has been sampled and covered several times, most notably by

DJ Spoony DJ Spoony (born Johnathan Joseph; 25 June 1970) is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is a member of the UK garage production trio, the Dreem Teem. Early career Dj Spoony was born in Hackney, East London to British West Indian parents. Hi ...

featuring the

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

and by

Nathan Dawe Nathan Dawe (born 25 May 1994) is an English DJ and producer. He is best known for his 2020 single "Lighter" featuring KSI, which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Early life and career Nathan Dawe was born in Burton upon Trent on 25 ...

featuring

Jaykae Janum Khan, better known by his stage name Jaykae, is a British rapper and actor from Small Heath, Birmingham. Music career Jaykae's start with music began when he started listening to other grime artists from London. In 2017 he released a ...

. The latter version peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart in 2020, also receiving platinum certification from the BPI.

Impact and legacy

Writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in 2019, music critic

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

listed the song at number six on retrospective of the best UK garage tracks, describing the track as "utterly charming. Essentially, UK street soul repurposed to fit a new style,

Todd Edwards Todd Edward Imperatrice (born December 9, 1972), known professionally as Todd Edwards, is an American garage house record producer, DJ and singer from Bloomfield, New Jersey. He began producing primarily for New York's Nervous Records in the 19 ...

-style vocal cut-ups and all, its chorus was hooky and infectious, its light, summer's-day atmosphere delightful". Also for ''The Guardian'', writer Michael Cragg ranked "Flowers" second in a list of the greatest ever songs of the summer. ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

'' included "Flowers" in its list of 40 of the best UK garage tracks released from 1995 to 2005. In September 2019, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' included the song in its roundup of the best UK garage anthems list.

Capital Xtra Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global Media & Entertainment, Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM broadcasting, FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB Digital Ra ...

included the song in their list of "The Best Old-School Garage Anthems of All Time".

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Flowers" was directed by Pete Nilsen and Ryan Davids.

Track listings

UK CD single # "Flowers" (Sunship edit) – 3:49 # "Flowers" (Supa' Flyas mix) – 3:36 # "Flowers" (Sunship mix) – 5:00 # "Flowers" (Wackside's Tweaker mix) – 7:05 UK 12-inch single :A1. "Flowers" (Sunship mix) – 5:00 :A2. "Flowers" (Sunship vs. Chunky featuring Shado Kane) – 6:22 :B1. "Flowers" (Wackside's Tweaker mix) – 7:05 UK cassette single # "Flowers" (Sunship edit) – 3:49 # "Flowers" (Supa' Flyas mix) – 3:36 # "Flowers" (Solomon's Precious mix) – 5:56 # "Flowers" (Sunship vs. Chunky featuring Shado Kane) – 6:22 German maxi-CD single # "Flowers" (Sunship edit) – 3:49 # "Flowers" (Sunship mix) – 5:00 # "Flowers" (Sunship vs. Chunky featuring Shado Kane) – 6:22 # "Flowers" (Wackside's Tweaker mix) – 7:06 # "Flowers" (Supa'Flyas Viva mix) – 3:34 Australian maxi-CD single # "Flowers" (C & J Mix) – 3:59 # "Flowers" (Supa'Flyas Viva mix) – 3:36 # "Flowers" (Sunship edit) – 3:50 # "Flowers" (Wackside's Small Tweaker radio) – 3:46 # "Flowers" (Sunship mix) – 5:02 # "Flowers" (Wackside's Tweaker mix) – 7:06 # "Flowers" (Solomon's Precious mix) – 5:57 # "Flowers" (Sunship vs Chunky) – 6:24

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Nathan Dawe version

British DJ and producer

released a cover version of the song as a single on 25 October 2019 through Atlantic UK. The single gives a featuring credit to rapper

for his verse, but Dawe chose not to give a featuring credit to Malika Ferguson for her vocals, nor to Sweet Female Attitude. It peaked at number 12 on the

Background

Talking to the

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

about the success of the song, Dawe said, "It's a surreal feeling. I've been pretty much working my whole music career for this achievement, so now that it's happened, it feels a bit weird. It's not the best time for everyone right now, but it's equally bad for all of us. Although I suppose it's a decent situation for myself!". He also said, "The writers of the original 'Flowers' (Mike Powell and Martin Green) have 100% of all the publishing royalties." Although Dawe re-worked some of the lyrics and added a verse by

, he insisted that "It's still Powell and Green's song, isn't it? I've seen the odd couple of tweets saying I've just used a cover for my financial gain. I'm not actually making money from the song."

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions and samples

In 2018, a cover version was released by

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...

along with Rationale and

James Arthur James Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the fin ...

for the mixtape album '' Other People's Heartache Pt. 4'', and the House & Garage Orchestra together with Sweet Female Attitude recorded an orchestral version for the album ''

''. In 2019, the original members of the

reformed and recorded "Flowers" for

's ''

Garage Classical ''Garage Classical'' is a compilation album by British disc jockey DJ Spoony with Katie Chatburn and the Ignition Orchestra, released on 18 October 2019, on the Since 93 label. The album contains orchestral covers of classic UK garage tracks an ...

'' album. In 2019,

AJ Tracey Ché Wolton Grant (born 4 March 1994), known professionally as AJ Tracey, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is from Ladbroke Grove, West London. Tracey rose to popularity in 2016 and was listed by ''The Guardian'' i ...

and

Jorja Smith Jorja Alice Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouTube, ...

performed a cover of the song for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...

. "Flowers" is sampled in British girl group

M.O M.O are an English girl group consisting of members Annie Ashcroft and Chanal Benjilali, and previously Frankee Connolly until her departure in June 2017 and Nadine Samuels until her departure in 2020. The group was formed in 2012 by the membe ...

's 2014 single "

Dance On My Own "Dance On My Own" is a song by English recording trio M.O. It was released as a digital download on 22 August 2014 in the United Kingdom as the band's fifth single. Sampling the 2000s garage hit single "Flowers" by female duo Sweet Female Attit ...

", while British-Jamaican hip hop duo

Krept and Konan Krept and Konan is a British hip hop duo from London, consisting of Casyo Valentine "Krept" Johnson BEM (born 4 February 1990, Gipsy Hill) and Karl Dominic "Konan" Wilson BEM (born 3 September 1989, Thornton Heath), the son of Delroy Wilso ...

also sampled the track for their 2018 single "Pour Me Another One". In 2021, London based artist

PinkPantheress PinkPantheress (born 2001) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. PinkPantheress's songs, which are frequently short in length and include samples of music from the 1990s and 2000s, span a number of genres, including bedroom po ...

sampled the track for her single "

Pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...

", and British rapper

ArrDee Riley Davies (born 17 September 2002), known professionally as ArrDee, is a British rapper. His debut mixtape, '' Pier Pressure'', was released on 18 March 2022. Early life Davies was born and raised in Brighton, England. On growing up in Br ...

sampled the backing track and chorus of "Flowers" for his single "Flowers (Say My Name)".

References

{{Authority control 1999 songs 2000 debut singles 2019 singles Atlantic Records UK singles Nathan Dawe songs Song recordings produced by Cutfather & Joe Sugababes songs UK garage songs Warner Music Group singles