"What Kind of Man" | ||||
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12" single cover
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Single by Florence and the Machine | ||||
from the album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful | ||||
B-side | "As Far as I Could Get" | |||
Released | 12 February 2015 | |||
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Recorded | The Pool (London, England) |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 3:36 | |||
Label | Island | |||
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Producer(s) |
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Florence and the Machine singles chronology | ||||
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"What Kind of Man" is a song by English indie rock band Florence and the Machine from their third studio album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015). It was written by Florence Welch, Kid Harpoon and John Hill, produced by Markus Dravs and co-produced by Hill. The song was released on 12 February 2015 as the album's lead single. "What Kind of Man" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
According to lead vocalist Florence Welch, the song represents a new guitar-driven sonic direction for the band. "It's got very loud guitars and that was very fun to record actually", she said in an interview. "Trying to get exactly the right tone of guitar—I never realised how complicated that is. It took us forever.... Every day there'd be a different guitar sound. We ended up layering with three different guitar sounds, one on top of the other, in order to create this one song."
The song builds slowly and breaks into a heavy beat with tambourine and bass drum, and then becomes a textured pop song with heavy brass arrangements. The song lyrically focuses on an indecisive man who wronged Welch.
"What Kind of Man" received acclaim from music critics. Al Horner of the NME wrote, "Musically, it's big. Wagnerian backing vocals and horn blasts turn 'What Kind Of Man' into a spectacle worthy of [Welch's] new festival headliner status". Dee Lockett of Vulture dubbed it a "fiery rocker". Andrew Unterberger of Spin opined that the song "starts off a letdown, but quickly proves to be ['Ship to Wreck''s] roaring equal, with the unexpected arrival of a thick guitar chop and regal horn salute that gives Florence the instrumental support she deserves as she excoriates an uncommitted significant other".