The Devil Wears Prada: Ready To Bloom Anew
The beloved US metalcore group prepares for a new arc with their ninth studio album, Flowers. Vocalist Mike Hranica takes a look back at the journey to get here…
Words Sosefina Fuamoli // Image Wyatt Clough
After completing their Australian tour in support of Bullet For My Valentine in October, The Devil Wears Prada returned home, ready to start the final preparations for the release of their much-anticipated new studio project: Flowers.
Marking the start of an exciting new phase for the metalcore group, Flowers represents some of The Devil Wears Prada’s most ambitious and entertaining material to date. Their first studio album release since 2022’s Color Decay, Flowers beats with a rejuvenated heart; the band willing to lose themselves in the immersiveness of their current songwriting dynamic.
As heard across singles including ‘Where The Flowers Never Grow’, ‘Ritual’ and ‘For You’, The Devil Wears Prada have spent this album-making process experimenting with their signature sound – fusing relentless pacing with more pop-oriented hooks and choruses, without compromising the intensity of their earlier material.
For vocalist Mike Hranica, the development of the band’s overall artistry in making Flowers reflects their (and indeed, his) ability to share and feed into one another’s creative energy. As he describes, songwriting and live performance are both things that he treats as a muscle: only through practice and constant exercise of the process, has he been able to grow as an artist.
“I’m proud to try and be malleable, bendable,” he explains. “I listened to a podcast recently, they were talking about relationships and one of the things they said was, to be powerful is to be able to be influenced. I wouldn’t say I’m powerful by any means, but I think that really applies to songwriting.
What I can try to be proud of is that every idea I throw into the room isn’t going to be the best idea, far from it, but it’s a virtue to be able to set your pride and ego aside. It’s also the same, in terms of fulfilling a vision for your bandmates. It’s like, this might not be what I want to do for myself, but if this is your vision, I trust it. That’s the malleability.”
Flowers, produced by The Devil Wears Prada keyboardist Jonathan Gering, saw the band work with a new team of co-writers, producers and engineers that ultimately amplified the energy and impact of the overall project.
For Hranica, Flowers is the type of album that is best listened to as a whole. Front to back, Flowers is an inviting listen, with The Devil Wears Prada guiding this experience expertly through plunges into emotional purging (‘Ritual’, ‘Eyes’), and deft moments of melodic nuance (‘Everybody Knows’).
The vocalist reflects on making Flowers positively, even though he’d be the first person to tell you he is “bad at being present”, instead choosing to focus on what is coming next.
“When I am able to look into the past a little bit, it does provide hindsight and some retrospect. I’m so excited for fans to hear this thing, front to back, and experience the journey of the album,” he says.
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“It’s fast, it has very little down-time, even if there’s songs considered a little softer. John has spent so much time producing the album and fine-tuning everything, I think he had a really good vision, in terms of seeing it through and seeing the ups and downs. The interlude, starting with something soft and instrumental, just being able to define those ups and downs, riding that roller coaster.
“When we were writing ‘Where The Flowers Never Grow’, it felt like that had to start the album. Some of it just falls in your lap, and it just happens the right way. Other times, you’re grinding against the wall and trying, trying.”
Looking further into how The Devil Wears Prada has continued to evolve over a long career of touring, lineup changes and shifts in creative direction over the years, Hranica admits that Flowers hasn’t lost the core vision and identity that appealed to fans in their earlier chapters.
What we’re hearing on Flowers is a band driven by new confidence, bolstered by countless moments of inspiration The Devil Wears Prada have experienced in touring with some of the genre’s biggest names.
“There are layers [to Flowers] that we couldn’t even fathom when we were writing Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord (2006) or Plagues (2007). We didn’t know how!” he says. “I think that there’s a modernity to what we do and at the same time, I’m up there yelling and Jeremy [DePoyster] is singing and playing guitar, and there are four other guys… you can mix it up but keep the fundamentals.
We did a sizable tour this summer with Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage and I Prevail, and I feel like that tour and this recent one with Bullet For My Valentine, to a degree, are really feeding a secular audience more so than something more niche or "underground". When we’ve been doing these tours, when we play ‘For You’ people have gotten the hang of it - they’ve figured out where the song goes.”
Witnessing the growth of the heavy genre globally, as well as being part of it in recent years, has infused The Devil Wears Prada with excitement for what is still to come for them.
“It’s a changing of the guard, to some extent, as far as the way metalcore is being pushed more and more to the frontline of the secular heavy music scene,” Hranica furthers.
“The fact that festivals now have Parkway Drive and Bring Me The Horizon headlining… it’s not like these festivals are going to go away; we just have to put what’s next in terms of heavy music out there. I’m so proud and I love how some of these bands we used to play with… I mean, I remember we and A Day To Remember played to 300 people the first time we toured together. Now look at it.
A high tide raises all boats and I love that, like you said, globally, heavy music is changing and shifting in different ways. I love seeing our peers be able to be at the top of it; we want to be at the top of it too.”
Flowers by The Devil Wears Prada is out Friday 14 November. Pre-order/pre-save here.
