FKA twigs

Just heard this from a few months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFtMl-uipA8

I like very much. What's the story, where to next, etc.

twigs

twigs

lol

twigs

<3 twigs, but let's not lie to ourselves, Arca is the real draw.

The Arca production is sweet, but I'm also a fan of her whispery tones.

So it's Arca or it's twigs or it's both or it's more or...

First ep was released in 2012 as twigs. In a pre-emptive move on her part to avoid a clash with another artist named twigs, she changed the name to FKA twigs before releasing the second ep in 2013. Arca has handle the production/beat-making on both iirc, and she writes and sings. Album in 2014 perhaps? Hope so.

Man that's involved. Anyway, thanks for the clearup.

I can't stand Water Me from the singles poll. I've listened to it through about a dozen times and still nothing sticks for me. She has an aggravating quality to it that reminds me of Peter Gabriel for some reason. I tried to bait jjj into talking shit about it on his anti-shriekfest thread, but it turned out he dug it. I just listened to another track (Papi Pacify) that seems more substantial to me though.

I like "Papi Pacify" (and ummmmmm, the video! I am here for all this gorgeous black people engaging in kink!). "Water Me" does nothing for me tho.

oh, I had the video on in a separate tab! :D

i love both of these eps, love this chick, love her producer, love her movie directors, will always support good looking multiethnic groups of teens doing pretentious Fashion things

I just came here for the distended eyes

really admire anyone who has never experienced the type of insecurity that lets them hear something in "water me"

really now?

Okay before I forget, that user name rules. (I am biased.)

https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10443065_273125599526507_6649757823116258883_o.jpg

LP1 out in two months.

YES

Wonderful cover, and it looks like none of the tracks are repeated from either EP. Can't wait.

http://disconaivete.com/post/89694315611

Hit play on the soundcloud embed, scroll ahead to the 30:00 mark. Then get gut punched by "Two Weeks".

yeah this sounds kind of incredible, wow

perfect

Just checked Amazon and the mp3 single is out tomorrow (I'd presume the same holds true for iTunes).

this is perhaps the first time i have found her interesting. earlier songs were way too wispy and distant for me; this seems way less brittle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yDP9MKVhZc

so is this Arca, or?

that song is delightful!

holy shit

so is this Arca, or?

She said in the little interviewlet with Ellie Goulding yesterday that she's actually been doing some production herself. Whether this is one of them or not, I don't know yet.

Goddamn

Amazing song, amazing video

Who is bankrolling this?

XL presumably

so is this Arca, or?

She said in the little interviewlet with Ellie Goulding yesterday that she's actually been doing some production herself. Whether this is one of them or not, I don't know yet.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 3:31 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think this one was a Clams Casino production.

if so this is the first time i've enjoyed a clams thing in years

and the first time i've enjoyed a fka twigs thing anyway

v v v good

This is definitely a bold clam xp

I think this one was a Clams Casino production.

nah he said on twitter that he didn't produce it.

http://twitter.com/clammyclams/status/481446543598579712

Just twigged (har har) that the vid is probably a response/take on Kanye's Power vid?

What are earlier examples?

http://twitter.com/clammyclams/status/481446543598579712

― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:43 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lol, that's some shonky journalism by Pitchfork and a host of others then.

Annnd new interview

http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/meet-fka-twigs-musics-new-fashion-darling.html

"Two Weeks" has completely taken over my brain

basically I can't go more than 45 minutes without humming either this song or "Dark Horse"

^^ minus the Dark Horse part

"Two Weeks" has really changed the way I think about her - I hope the rest of the LP avoids the pallid and watery early songs (which I tried really hard to love, but just couldn't latch onto for whatever reason) and more full-bodied like the newest single. She seems like a pretty cool person in any case: http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9460-fka-twigs/

I still think the songs on the eps are gorgeous and really can't comprehend how they're unlikeable—particularly "Water Me," which seems to be the one most scorned—but I'm looking forward to whatever her next move is.

leaked. if you need me, i'll be over here listening to this one on a loop for the next couple days.

this album is a real endorphin releaser.

i love "two weeks" and i think i also love "pendulum" but at this point i'm not convinced by the rest

amazing video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxGDNRE-2c0

holy shit

right?? wish it was 20 mins longer tbh

I want to watch this entire movie

yes, that was awesome! i especially loved the way she crossed the restaurant to him at the beginning, the percussive pulse of her movements. just incredible

Brilliant stuff!

Yeah, I mean her music is obviously awesome, but her videos are so next-level amazing I totally want her to make the jump to being a movie star - would love to see her do a full length film.

she did, she's in Honey Boy, Shia Lebouf's autobiographical film. She's actually really good in it though I can't recall if she even speaks. (and that movie is really good, I was extremely surprised).

I want a Highlander reboot starring Twigs and I want it yesterday

Nobody is going to trick me into watching anything that POS lebouef has made, sorry.

Yeah, I don't think even Twigs could make me sit through anything of Lebouf - cosign wanting an all-dancing and mixed martial arts and swordplay Highlander reboot, tho.

This also tells me that, in addition to more acting, Twigs should be doing choreography in ghost/zombie movies

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/music/fka-twigs-shia-labeouf-abuse.html

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by the musician, accuses the actor of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.

quoted at length here for those who are paywalled:

In the lawsuit, FKA Twigs aka Ms. Barnett said that Mr. LaBeouf did not like it if she spoke to or looked at male waiters; in an interview, Ms. Barnett said she learned to keep her eyes down when men spoke to her. She also stated in the suit that Mr. LaBeouf had rules about how many times a day she had to kiss and touch him, which he enforced with constant haranguing and criticism.

Mr. LaBeouf convinced Ms. Barnett to stay with him in Los Angeles, she said, rather than move back to London where she and her professional circle lived. It was a step toward her isolation, she said. And he would often say that her creative team used her, a message that eventually led her to doubt them.

But living with him became frightening, she said. The lawsuit says that he kept a loaded firearm by the bed and that she was scared to use the bathroom at night lest he mistake her for an intruder and shoot her. He didn’t let her wear clothing to bed, and would spin a trifling disagreement — over an artist she liked and he didn’t, for example — into an all-night fight, depriving her of sleep, the suit says.

The situation came just as she was completing what became her most critically lauded album, “Magdalene.” Ms. Barnett said she found herself in stasis, struggling to fulfill her professional duties, and confounding her friends and colleagues. “Twigs is always the driving force behind her career — always a step ahead of everyone else,” said her longtime manager, Michael Stirton. “This was an extreme change in her personality and character.” The album’s release was delayed multiple times, and a tour was rescheduled at great cost, Mr. Stirton said, as Ms. Barnett receded. “I could speak to her,” he said. “But I couldn’t reach her.”

As Ms. Barnett grew more isolated, she said she felt as though her safety nets were unraveling. The gas station incident had happened in public, she said, and no one stepped to her aid; an early attempt she made to tell a colleague was brushed off. “I just thought to myself, no one is ever going to believe me,” she said in an interview. “I’m unconventional. And I’m a person of color who is a female.”

Slowly, with the help of a therapist, she began to strategize her exit. While she was packing to leave in spring 2019, Mr. LaBeouf turned up unannounced and terrorized her, according to a sworn statement from a witness, her housekeeper, in the lawsuit. When Ms. Barnett wouldn’t leave with him, the statement says, he “violently grabbed” her, picked her up and locked her in another room, where he yelled at her.

Escaping him began to seem “both difficult and dangerous,” the lawsuit says. And even as she grew in resolve, she felt overwhelmed, she told her therapist, in an email The Times has reviewed. Though she had the means, it took several attempts for Ms. Barnett to extricate herself, she said in an interview. And it was only afterward that she realized how broken down she had become.

“The whole time I was with him, I could have bought myself a business-flight plane ticket back to my four-story townhouse in Hackney,” in London, she said. And yet she didn’t. “He brought me so low, below myself, that the idea of leaving him and having to work myself back up just seemed impossible,” she said.

In her lawsuit, Ms. Barnett said she plans to donate a significant portion of any monetary damages to domestic-violence charities. “It was actually very expensive, and a massive undertaking of time and resources, to get out,” she said in an interview.

I know it's beside the point but I got a push alert from the NYT for this on my phone and I imagined a large portion of the world looking at their phone and asking who tf FKA Twigs is

Yeah, got the alert as well, see what you mean.

fuck, man, this is awful. civil suits alone aren’t enough. abusive motherfuckers like this belong behind bars. but i hope she takes him for all he’s worth.

This is really heartbreaking. Nothing but love and support for Twigs.

Aye. Goddam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJacful-tII

nice

She did an interview with Louis theroux for his podcast too.

https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a35460385/fka-twigs-shia-la-beouf-abuse/

more harrowing details of her abuse at labeouf's hands in this piece but also new album details!

During quarantine, she collaborated with powerhouse producer El Guincho, the mastermind behind Rosalía’s breakthrough album, El Mal Querer. Twigs tells me she’s created a “going out” album that features collaborations with Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema, British hip-hop up-and-comer Pa Salieu, and pop darling Dua Lipa. She met the latter on Instagram, and the two decided to collaborate on a dance track, “Why Don’t You Love Me,” which was made for the return to dance floors, post-vaccine.

very excited for the rema & pa salieu collabs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnmzNmOPSLQ

the dua lipa collab "why don't you love me" was premiered in dua lipa's livestream concert too

damn el guincho is having a run right now

She is making a martial arts series, oh hell yeah

https://theface.com/music/fka-twigs-interview-michaela-coel-i-may-destroy-you-pa-salieu-headie-one

that's a really fun conversation!

New song sounds like one of the best Bond songs ever.

it's for a spy film so she met the brief

Did not know that. Makes sense.

the song in question - it's great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgvTBLA6nA8

Unexpected new album

New *mixtape

Plenty to like here but on first listen I love “Careless”.

I like this simple, pop approach she’s taking on most of the mixtape.

It is nice seeing her not take herself so seriously, but when she does her music hits higher highs. This is fun though! Definitely enjoyed the first half this morning.

this isn't really grabbing me for the most part idk

this is a great look for her imo. i like this a lot. much better than that last LP, i think her bending back towards the mainstream is better for her, she can find some spot where she's a bit on the fringes. she has a unique voice & can write a melody, she doesn't need to go broken pretentious arty arca w/ it, her best stuff is typically the most straightforward i think

I'm the opposite, I loved Magdalene with all its Kate Bush swoops. I think this is fine, a couple of really good tracks.

Same, I really like the mixtape but Magdalene was a classic for her. And unlike the early Arca eps it had a pretty traditional palette, it was mostly piano-based (but treated in a super modern way imo)!

New *mixtape

A question because I am old. How is this NOT an album?

I think it's just something people say when they release an album but want to deemphasize its importance in their canon. Maybe they didn't take as much time as they would with an 'album', or maybe it's because they don't want to do the full album-cycle work of touring and promotion, or maybe they just didn't clear all the samples? Idk. It's pretty clearly an album, but I get if she wants to convey that it's not the serious follow-up to Magdalene that is yet to come.

mixtape = EP minus quality control

Lol that's a much better explanation

Sounds good no matter what it is called

xp I prefer your explanation, Jordan

Mixtapes are often cohesive full length efforts, stylistically thematic, and some can be incredible (Clipse's We Got It 4 Cheap series, Kehlani's You Should Be Here, Weeknd's House of Balloons, etc).

But they aren't canonical, often lack singles and tour support, sample clearing, big name production, etc. It's largely divorced from a mixtape's origins of homemade cassette tapes with a cohesive mix of tracks/raps/songs tied together on top of a bunch of hodge podge beats. Honestly when I think of an actual "mix tape" I think more of turntablists like Q-Bert or a DJ mix. Pop mix tapes feel more like full length "demos".

these days it usually means it's an early project being given away for free to build hype (not that the 'free' part means a lot in the modern streaming era), or the label doesn't want to give it the same sort of promotional budget, or it's a more casual stopgap release not intended to be the 'proper' follow-up release. rare for any of these to get a physical release

here it seems it's more like the third? it's kinda silly to make the distinction at all these days really

In non-music news. Can't she just play the Crow instead?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/fka-twigs-bill-skarsgard-crow-reboot-1235124947/

That would be better, although I'm still hoping for the FKA Twigs as Highlander reboot.

Excellent Briana Younger feature.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/fka-twigs-interview

Good story. Interesting how she first went to LA to learn more about krumping from the originators.