Album Review: Therapy at the Club by FLO
Writing with Amy Allen, Steph Jones, and Julian Bunetta, FLO turn a run of bad romances into pop-R&B that admits fault before anybody lays a charge.
One could say harmony was the order of the day in 2022, with “Cardboard Box” being a case in point: three voices and not much more to it, a lead with two in support. The Lead was released that year, 3 of Us the following one; Miss Elliott put in an appearance on “Fly Girl.” Then FLO put out “Walk Like This” in 2024 and had a whole catalog of songs done up in like manner. They are responsible for the big resurgence of girl groups.
Access All Areas is the kind of debut from Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer, and Stella Quaresma. An album singing of good sex and worse exes with the poise of women who have been through it all before; no wonder it was put forward for Best Progressive R&B Album at the Grammys. They are as composed on Therapy at the Club but put it to other uses. The men remain their liars and no-shows, while the women telling their stories are far more forthcoming than they were in the beginning.
The trio put love down as a controlled substance and took it beyond the jest to the paperwork, the dosages, and the warnings and symptoms. A woman will let her hair be cut, put on some weight, or become depressed to make an impression on a man; on “Small Doses,” they go over the list as if they were side effects and not confessions. Her section lays down the law: “Nothing this good comes without a warning/Gets you so high, next thing you’re falling.” With “Side Effects,” you get the reverse; the woman is the drug. She can pay the tip and put him out, and should he slip, there is always new dick to be had; hence will have her beating a bitch and pulling the trigger, yet it is still a love song. “HaterBooth” sees Douglas and Quaresma follow that line; the screws are loose, and you want a doctor when the remedy has you on the floor.
And the men in their songs can only put words to it under the influence, something the women will tell them outright. Downer would like to see how he can’t put together a sentence while she is making her intentions plain and he has her heart. “Sober” has her telling him that admitting to his feelings wouldn’t diminish him as a man even when he is straight, then she wants to know why his heart is open only when he is high as fuck and pours the shots to have him do it over again. The woman is left with the same sort of chemistry on “I Can’t Be High Around You.” It makes her believe he is after her as she is him, so she puts her mind to it and is at his place in the end. He used to call her baby; now it is by her name.
There are mirrors to be had for these three, and the glass will reflect what is opposite. “Cry Ugly” finds Quaresma putting in her lip at what she calls bullshit o’clock in the morning, and the man shows up to have a go at her; she is off with her Miu Mius halfway out the door. Douglas is the one to catch herself in the chorus: “Got me all dressed up for nothing/I did my makeup just to watch it all running.” On the Pussycat Dolls-inspired “Leak It,” she is at the mirror with the flash on to see who the bitch is and comes to the conclusion it is her. Then there is the matter of her phone running hot, the numbers going up, and her body being, in her words, undefeated.
The songs have been put together by Amy Allen, Steph Jones, Julian Bunetta, and Boy Matthews, not to mention Skippz, Oak Felder, and Sevyn Streeter, who also put in some work. And yet the woman you hear from one song to the next is plainly the same person, and she is usually confessing before anyone can put the accusation to her. Although during an interview with Billboard, Downer detailed that the group were heavily involved in the songwriting process.
For four consecutive tracks, “Floating” makes its case with a heart unhidden and some butterflies and the notion that he puts an end to gravity. “Pose” is more of a success if for no other reason than Juicy J is on hand to put in a performance he has done for any number of artists: a bougie woman, a driver to see her home come morning, and a few thousand in the air to see how loose she can be. Although, they recorded the song during a PlaqueBoyMax stream (which says a lot). On “Call Me,” the sex act is reduced to a phone call, an idea made thin by one line. kwn is as predictable as you would like on “Sex in Peace,” turning a plea to be removed from the section into five-star dining and princess-cut diamonds. A woman will have you believe she is not being dramatic on “Miss U Missing Me” even as it all is, and that is enough to get the song over the line.
Quaresma is not after the boyfriend but is standing up for her friend, telling him she knows the girl better than the girl does. The warning is exact and of the domestic kind. Should her friend cry, she will be at his door on “Don’t Break Her Heart”; he will think he has been ghosted when she has seen to it he is gone; and if he is the one to break a heart, she will be breaking a face. The bridge makes plain why it would break hers.
With “Therapy at the Club,” that sort of care is extended to strangers. They will raise a glass to the new arrival and have a shot for the girl in back. Putting them in the mood for a dance and some talk with someone they don’t know because a stranger’s arms are to be preferred to having to tell the man you love he doesn’t measure up. “Remedied” is more matter-of-fact. Over a fast-paced beat that’ll make Back to Basics proud (notably “Ain’t No Other Man”), Downer has been weeping in bed with her head down until the best friend rings early in the morning to see if she is down; the answer is neither yes nor no. Thereafter, it is the bottle in the freezer, the dress from the dry cleaners, and the seven-seater making its way around.
As for the impeccable “Touché,” Quaresma concedes the whole thing. He has every right to be put out; she does too much. Having apologized, she proceeds to lay out a list of what she is: a cunt, a bitch, the shit, late, cutthroat, and given to complaints, no argument about it. Down the line, there is an assurance to take her good side, and she’ll be what he wants to see. She has made up her mind she is a fine bad guy, lets someone else put the car away, and looks on as boys hold their hearts in her presence. She will own every charge and emerge from it the bigger for it.
Solid (★★★½☆)
Favorite Track(s): “Cry Ugly,” “Touché,” “Remedied”