It has been four years since FKA twigs’s last project, the M3LL155X EP. Following it she was involved in a high-profile romantic relationship, dealt with a serious health issue (she would have fibroids removed from her uterus), and became one of music’s standout avante-garde acts; one moment she’s showing off her pole-dancing skills, another she’s starring in an Apple advert directed by Spike Jonze, and another she’s learning how to sword fight better than any member of the Wu-Tang Clan.
So, and to much anticipation, twigs has released her long-in-the-works sophomore album MAGDALENE. “It was scary because I think I’d never written from, well I’ve always written from a really honest place, but an honest place at 22 or 23 with your life experience is different to an honest place,” she said to Zane Lowe of Beats 1 about the project. “Then years on when you’ve experienced responsibility and heartbreak and a kind of glimpse of real adulthood… It became not easier in process, but just kind of like easier in the acceptance of myself to be able to put that on the table. And I think obviously like showing people your heart when it’s raw, it is vulnerable. It’s one thing showing people your heart when you’re feeling sexy and sassy and you’re 22, 23 running around New York like miss thing. Do you know what I mean? Like, Oh, I’m so sexy and so vulnerable at the same time. I’m discovering my sexuality, that’s hot. know what I mean? But then it’s another thing where like, Oh, I’m like, I’m broken now. It felt different, but I didn’t give myself a hard time whenever I was into it.”
Led by the singles “Cellophane,” “Sad Day” and the Future-guested “Holy Terrain,” the nine-song opus can be heard below.
