Sometimes, you’re just in the mood to dive into a fantastical world because you want swords and sorcery, magical creatures, or an excuse to escape from reality. There’s so much of it though, we thought to offer you a much more specific subgenre of fantasy media to dive into: fantasy via the medium of…musician Florence Welch?
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I’m going to level with you here, friends—I wouldn’t actually recommend you watch or play several of the entries on this list. But they are united by a weirdly specific common bond: They’ve all got Florence + The Machine collaborations that are really good, because, well, it’s Florence + The Machine.
5) The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Pour one out for Team Jacob with one of the more watchable Twilight movies, but in the process get a pretty decent bit of Florence in the process? Fair does. Just maybe don’t keep going after this, unless you want cursed babies and no Florence + The Machine. That seems like a bad outcome!
4) Snow White and the Huntsman
A Kristen Stewart vehicle returns to this list, and appropriately it’s another Florence + The Machine collabo. This is definitely a stronger song than “Heavy in Your Arms,” if only because it’s Florence Welch on her absolute best bullshit, and that bullshit is held notes and lots of airy goodness. Befitting then, that it’s for a stronger movie, albeit still in the “oh my god this is terrible but also the best kind of watchable trash” category we were in with Eclipse.
TGIF Playlist: Alt R&B
3) Game of Thrones’ Final Season
I mean, actually, no, absolutely not. Don’t. Maybe watch like, the first four seasons instead. But that Jenny of Oldstones cover? Incredible. It’s the only good thing about Game of Thrones’ final season that isn’t Brienne getting her due, and the fact that they both happen in the same episode is a blessing. OK, maybe watch this episode and nothing else. God, remember when we thought that song’s inclusion might matter?
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God, remember when we thought any of it might matter? At least the song’s brilliant. Bonus: the season two trailer that utilized “Seven Devils” perfectly.
2) Final Fantasy XV
The game? It’s fine. Very long, perhaps too long even. Good boys, nice bros. They stab monsters and go on road trips and occasionally listen to Final Fantasy songs on their car radio. The car can fly, because Final Fantasy.
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The Florence compilation album said Nice Bros can listen to on their car radio though? Killer. The songs made for the game, “Too Much Is Never Enough” and “I Will Be,” are great, but that “Stand By Me” cover is the real winner.
1) Dragon Age II
While I’m shitposting, I might as well remind you of my unequivocally true opinion that Dragon Age II isn’t just Good, Actually, but is the best Dragon Age game. Charming characters (except Anders, who sucks, but at least you could kill him for sucking). A fascinating, if flawed, attempt to tell a smaller-scaled intimate fantasy story after the original’s world-spanning epic tale of apocalyptic monster invasions. And, above all, an incredibly good version of “I’m Not Calling You a Liar” that plays over the credits and is hilariously attributed as the theme song of the game’s unreliable narrator and party member, Varric Tethras the Dwarven bard.
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Is it cheating that the highest-ranked Florence track on this list is just one of the group’s songs with new background composition from DAII’s composer, Inon Zur? Maybe. Do I care? No. It rules, just like Dragon Age II.
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