Maisie Peters released her third studio album, Florescence, on Friday. The follow-up to her near chart-topping sophomore album The Good Witch, shows that even the coldest winters can lead to a fluorescent Spring. While Florescence does carry the torch of Maisie’s heartbreaking poetic pen, her love life is very much in full bloom.
What makes Florescence work so well is that Maisie Peters still writes with the same hyper-specific detail fans fell in love with, but this time she sounds calmer, steadier, and more hopeful. There are sad moments scattered throughout the album, but overall, her latest release is about someone learning how to love and be loved without self-destruction.
The album’s features also help strengthen that atmosphere without ever pulling focus from Peters herself. Julia Michaels appears on “Kingmaker,” a sharp and quietly furious duet between two incredible songwriters, while Marcus Mumford brings warmth and tenderness to “If You Let Me.” Even with the added touch of guest appearances, Florescence still feels entirely like Maisie’s world. You can hear it immediately on “Audrey Hepburn,” where Peters sings, “Love was a myth, now it’s my morning coffee,” turning domestic intimacy into something cinematic and magical.
The singles remain some of the album’s strongest moments. “Audrey Hepburn,” “You You You,” and “Say My Name In Your Sleep” all deserved the early hype. Meanwhile “My Regards” lets her lean fully into country-pop storytelling, delivering a biting kiss-off that still sounds playful enough to scream-sing in the car. Not to mention, the song is choreographed.
“Questions,” “Vampire Time,” and “Old Fashioned” are other major standouts. “Old Fashioned” especially has some of my favorite writing on the record, with Peters spitting, “You are a false prophet and a fool’s promise,” over folk-pop production that sounds deceptively breezy. “Vampire Time” was easily a fan favorite and has been since early screenings.
One of the album’s most emotional moments arrives with opener “Mary Janes.” The song references the bullying and scrutiny Peters faced after opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour. “Sometimes when I sing I get the big note wrong/ The teenagers hung onto that all Summer long,” she says in the opening verse. This is the first Maisie spoke out about the backlash publicly. She has since stated in interviews that she was suffering from vocal polyps during that time and was insecure about her voice.
On “Houses,” a song written entirely by Peters herself, she proves the haters wrong with her skill and mastery of the genre. In the track she imagines the future lives of old lovers with heartbreaking detail. When she sings, “The wife I could’ve been if I’d listened a little closer,” it feels painfully intimate and universal at the same time. The songwriting here is incredible because Peters never settles for vague emotion. Every image feels lived in, from eggshell-covered floors to coffee machines humming in kitchens she no longer belongs in.
“Flat Earther” is quirky and a little silly in tone, but again brings originality to the genre that Maisie excels in.
Closing track “Nothing Like Being In Love” ties the album together beautifully. The title itself works as a double entendre. Peters is celebrating being in love while also acknowledging that her past relationship was nothing like that at all. It reframes the entire album in retrospect. The love songs feel brighter because the heartbreak songs came first. By the end of Florescence, Peters sounds like someone who finally understands the difference between wanting love and actually having it.
