FKA Twigs
Magdalene

But will you still be there for me

Now I’m yours to obtain

Now my fruits are for taking

And your fingers are stained

From “Holy Terrain”

This is what FKA Twigs, the stage name of Tahliah Debrett Barnett, a girl of Ethiopian descent but born and raised in London, wonders. She wonders if after giving herself (physically and mentally), she will still be desired. This is a legitimate question for the woman Tahliah, but it is not a question for the artist FKA Twigs. Once you understand her, you can no longer do without her. We are facing a mysterious and multifaceted artist, who always leaves you with a doubt about what you are listening to. Could she be defined as alternative-pop? Or just alternative? Or R'n'b, as the critics defined her only after discovering that behind that battered face of LP1 was a girl of color? But why seek definitions for such a complex and unique artist in the current music scene.

For me, with “Magdalene” FKA Twigs has taken a step towards artistic maturity and directly places herself among the most interesting things of our days. This is a relatively short work, but one that makes you want to listen again to capture, with each new listen, the different nuances of her dark compositions. The album starts with “Thousand Eyes” which seems like an introduction/prayer and sets the tone for the entire project with the bitter taste of a relationship that is about to end (“If I walk out the door it starts our last goodbye” is the album’s opening line”). It's almost like starting from the end, from the moment when everything changes, where stability is lost, only to analyze, in the subsequent tracks, how you reached that point. As the songs progress, the atmosphere remains dark, feminine, and delicate (listen to “Home with you”, a strange anthem to human complexity and the impossibility of helping each other, even when willing to do so). When in the middle of Magdalene “Holy Terrain” arrives, perhaps the most mainstream and danceable track, we breathe a sigh of relief, especially during the first listens, because for a few minutes we escape the intensity of this “Fallen alien” (another fantastic piece) and can take a pleasant break. But as soon as the track ends, we start again to reach, after other very successful compositions (“Mirrored heart” is of a sweetness that cannot leave one indifferent) the terminus with “Cellophane,” the first and heartbreaking single from this album. A rough ballad that vaguely recalls the atmospheres of the best Amos.

A special mention goes to what for me is the core of the album, “Mary Magdalene,” a feminist anthem, that after a brief oriental-tinged instrumental introduction, starts with just the voice, an element that FKA Twigs always uses in a very innovative way and as a real instrument. The song is dedicated to the woman considered as the emblem of dependence on men (prostitute, at the mercy of men/ saved by Jesus, another man). And perhaps FKA Twigs does not want to be considered as (the now ex) girlfriend of Robert Pattinson either, a relationship that preceded her art in the mainstream (“A woman’s work// A woman’s prerogative// A woman’s time to embrace// she must put herself first”). In short, the English singer wanted to set things straight, and she did so with a very powerful piece.

The music, as always in the case of FKA, seems to come from a distant future, from a world that has yet to (be)come, with a combination of electronics, captivating melodies, and interesting beats. Compared to LP1, however, emotions are at the center, and the music is chosen based on them (while LP1 has always seemed to me to be a more “aesthetic” album, if you'll excuse the term).

In short, FKA Twigs continues to show us her world in her own way. A world that resembles no other.