3 of Us

Becoming the first girl group to win the Rising Star BRIT Award must be as daunting as it is thrilling—perfection takes time. So it’s small wonder that R&B trio FLO took the slow and steady approach to establishing their sound. Still, *3 of Us* (released five months after their triumph at the 2023 BRIT Awards)—a compact bundle of sleekly produced midtempos—should satiate even the most impatient of fans, whetting appetites with a taste of what’s likely to come. The EP is co-written and produced by hitmaker MNEK (Dua Lipa, Little Mix)—with assists from talent including TSB (Stormzy, J Hus) and Ryan Ashley (H.E.R., Mahalia). On it, Londoners Jorja, Renée, and Stella pour their feelings about various flavors of no-good lovers into four songs’ worth of skyscraping runs and honey-smooth harmonies. *3 of Us* cherry-picks references that stretch from all the way back to the early 2000s (on the punchy distortion of “Control Freak”) to as recently as SZA’s 2017 album *Ctrl*, which echoes through the love-triangle saga of the title track. It sounds unmistakably of the now, but with its through thread of R&B history, there is a timelessness to the production that coats each song with a classic sheen. Come for the glimmers of nostalgia, stay for FLO’s shining interpretation of the future.