Listen: Florence + The Machine Craft “Deeply Unsettling” Cover of No Doubt’s “Just A Girl”

Florence + The Machine has released a stirring cover of No Doubt’s 1995 hit, “Just A Girl,” for the Showtime series Yellowjackets.

Featured in the trailer for the second season of Yellowjackets, which premieres March 26, the reimagining of the Tragic Kingdom track was produced by Florence + The Machine’s Florence Welch, along with Idles guitarist Mark Bowen.

“I’m such a huge fan of ‘Yellowjackets’ and this era of music, and this song especially had a huge impact on me growing up, so I was thrilled to be asked to interpret it in a deeply unsettling way for the show,” said Welch in a statement. “We tried to really add some horror elements to this iconic song to fit the tone of the show. And as someone whose first musical love was pop-punk and Gwen Stefani, it was a dream job.”

Welch’s sinister spin on the No Doubt favorite complements the continuing storyline of the Showtime thriller. “As they confront the horrible truth of what survival entails, the real nightmare for each of them will be to figure out who they are, and what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive,” reads a Showtime descriptor of the season two premise.

The mastermind of Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), Yellowjackets, starring Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Elijah Wood, Melanie Lynskey, and Tawny Cypress, follows a group of female high school soccer players who survive a plane crash in the remote wilderness and documents their survival and how the traumatic event has followed through into their lives 25 years later.

Initially conceived as a spunky punk-pop song about female empowerment, “Just A Girl” was the first song Stefani wrote for No Doubt after her brother, Eric, who was the key songwriter, left the band in 1994. “I was in this all-guy band and all my friends were guys,” said Stefani. “I just had this point of view and I wanted to play on that. I thought it was really appropriate and really real to who I was.”

Written by Stefani and No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont and produced by Matthew Wilder, “Just A Girl” became the band’s first song to hit the charts, peaking at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Welch, is currently on a world tour supporting the band’s fifth album, Dance Fever, released in 2022. She recently released a live duet version of Dance Fever track “Morning Elvis,” featuring Southern Gothic singer and songwriter Ethel Cain.

Read the full story behind the meaning of “Just a Girl” HERE.

Photo by Autumn de Wilde / Sacks & Co.