Shortly earlier than her twenty fourth birthday final January, Flo Milli acquired an surprising reward from her followers. After enjoying dress-up one night time in her bed room, the Alabama upstart posted an Instagram video of herself singing to her new file, “By no means Lose Me.” Although she made the video in jest, the outcomes had been golden, because the clip went viral, resulting in the most important hit of Flo’s profession.
“I noticed it spreading earlier than my birthday [in January], perhaps months earlier than that,” remembers Flo. “It was loopy, as a result of I used to be selling one other music, however all that was on my thoughts was [“Never Lose Me”]. In the future, I used to be on the home, and I made a video on my telephone and posted it on Instagram. I used to be like, “Oh, they’re f–king with it.” Then, I put it on TikTok, and folks began making movies instantly. It began getting larger just a few months after that.”
The success of “By no means Lose Me” wasn’t initially on Flo’s birthday want checklist, however the file has since peaked to No. 18 on the Sizzling 100, a profession finest. What began as an impromptu freestyle over Babyface Ray and 42 Dugg’s “Ron Artest” beat morphed right into a sugary pop-rap bounce, courtesy of Flo’s entrancing hook and cheeky lyrics about staying near her beau.
“I used to be within the studio all night time, and I wasn’t actually centered,” says Flo. “I used to be engaged on different stuff for my challenge, after which proper after I was about to depart, I requested the engineer to drag up this beat — that’s after I began rapping. For the ‘By no means Lose Me’ half, I’m such a perfectionist: Till I get a line proper and it seems like the way it sounds in my head, I’ll do it so many occasions. I simply stored saying, ‘You by no means wanna lose me.’ I wasn’t anticipating it to blow. I used to be simply doing it for me.”
Launched final December, “By no means Lose Me” soared into the TikTok sphere and dominated. The music topped the TikTok Billboard Prime 50 chart for 4 weeks, changing into the longest reign but for any monitor. The file’s remixes that includes Bryson Tiller and Lil Yachty additionally helped its development, with each stars fanning over the music earlier than its explosion.
“It wasn’t actually deliberate; Yachty had reached out — he informed me he cherished it and we began speaking on that finish,” says Flo. “I despatched it to Bryson. That occurred as a result of he was hitting me on DMs [before it was officially out], like, “Drop this shit. This music has been in my head.” I used to be like, “It’s best to put a bit verse on it,” and that’s how that took place.
Regardless of these wins, Flo has another trick beneath her sleeves: unleashing a 3rd remix, this one with R&B and pop famous person SZA.
“I can’t give a date on [the SZA remix] proper now however hopefully quickly. I’ve been speaking to SZA for a few years — she’s at all times been supportive in direction of my profession, even behind the scenes.”
A model of this story initially appeared within the March 2, 2024, problem of Billboard.
