The song being developed into a series: the surrealist world of FKA Twigs
The soundscape created by FKA Twigs is unlike any other, creating an ethereal and intimate world that wraps the listener in its raw power. Through an experimental approach to the textures in her songs that complement and contradict each other, she carves out a unique emotional space in her albums with stripped-back vocals and intense production that heightens the feeling of horror and vulnerability in her work.
But Twigs is both a sonic and visual artist, with dreamy and surrealist music videos that add another dimension to her songs. After the release of her award-winning album Mary Magdalene in 2019, which was inspired by the emotional fallout of a particularly devastating breakup, she created a series of videos to accompany songs like Cellophane and Sad Day, all capturing the fractured and disembodied feeling of intense heartbreak. The visuals of her videos reflect the textures and tones within her songs, merging together futuristic visuals with a melancholic colour palette, creating a haunted and introspective mood.
The music video for Cellophane shows the singer pole dancing in a dimly lit golden room before being split into pieces and quickly descending into a dark underworld. It’s incredibly immersive and artistic, with a raw quality that mirrors the idea of feeling exposed and on display, capturing the completely soul-destroying feeling of baring your entire soul only to be split open.
However, one video caught the attention of production company FX, who are now developing one of her songs into a limited series.
Sad Day loosely describes a couple who are meeting each other again and trying to figure out if they could attempt a relationship again, but in a new way, without hurting each other. The video is incredibly cinematic, with Twigs meeting an ex-partner before engaging in a sword fight, battling it out and seeing how deeply they can hurt each other.
During the press tour for her recent film The Crow, also starring Bill Skarsgard, the actor praised the stories within her music videos, describing Sad Day to be like a film. After saying this, the singer revealed that FX were developing that particular song into a series after being inspired by the story world of the music video.
Twigs is known for learning new skills and crafts for her videos. The singer is also an accomplished dancer and translates her eccentric style through physical movement. However, for the Sad Day video, the singer learnt a rare form of Chinese sword fighting called Wushu, which she had to practice for years to convincingly portray in the video.
Twigs is a one-of-a-kind generational talent, and her work is deliberately obfuscating and incredibly thought-provoking, resonating with global audiences through their intimate and reflective style. With a commitment to the visual world of her songs and a rich backstory to the meaning of each song that acts as a meditation on womanhood, sexuality and human nature itself, there is no doubt that the extension of these themes to the medium of film will reveal another layer of the singer’s talent.
