A movie about a fabulous villainess like Cruella needs some great music. There must be a soundtrack to all of the chaotic happenings and a great wardrobe. Florence + the Machine’s frontwoman Florence Welch wrote “Call Me Cruella” and it’s the perfect song for the new Cruella film, currently streaming on Disney +. As the lyrics state, Cruella is indeed original, criminal, and dressed to kill. Cruella actress Emma Stone and Florence Welch came together for a short chat to talk about the film and the song.
The clip features the pair remotely chatting about the character and how the song came together. Welch talks about her kinship with the character, saying young Cruella looks like she did in her 20s. The connection gave her a creative boost and brought back memories of her former chaotic energy.
And, this song checks off an item on her childhood bucket list: writing a Disney song. Stone gushes over the song before making yet another connection between her character and Welch: fashion.
“I was always interested in clothes and fashion seemed like this outlet for creativity,” Welch affirms. “Dressing up, for me, has always been a sort of self-actualizing of the inner spirit. I feel like it’s a way of getting to wear the soul of you outside of yourself.” She reveals that she uses her clothing as an “armor” of sorts to protect herself as her career got bigger. It’s rather similar to Cruella’s use of fashion to embody a different persona in public.
Emma Stone elaborates on this point, saying that fashion is truly a shield and a weapon to show up in the world and depict a certain image to gain access to power. It’s a quick and fun conversation that makes connections between Cruella and Florence Welch on every level. Except being cruel to dogs, of course.