FKA twigs returns with her first new music in over three years, and its very special indeed. Written and produced by FKA twigs with Jeff Kleinman and Michael Uzowuru, ‘Cellophane’ is the first tantalising glimpse of her second album; the follow up to her 2014 debut, LP1. FKA Twigs’ extraordinary vocal performance that cradles you and rocks you into a trance, with distant echoes of Kate Bush or Sia her shivering high register swoops, piercing the subtly shifting contours of ‘Cellophane’.
It might conjure up the feeling of a lullaby but this is FKA twigs shattering excavation of self-identity and the performance we put on in everyday life to protect ourselves, stripping away the pretense to reveal a snapshot of both her artistry and her vulnerability as a human being. The video offers a vital visual counterbalance to the song’s lyrics (“Didn’t I do it for you? Why don’t I do It for you?”) with a depth of meditative power like floating off into a realm of self-discovery, ‘Cellophane‘ is affecting, mesmeric and touching, it’s already number one trending on YouTube.
Talking about the process, FKA twigs says: “throughout my life I’ve practiced my way to being the best I could be, it didn’t work this time. I had to tear down every process I’d ever relied on. go deeper. rebuild. start again”
‘Cellophane’ is accompanied by a video directed by Andrew Thomas Huang. In the video FKA twigs takes on a new performative role that she trained for months in advance for, adding another facet to her enviable multi-disciplinary skill set.
In FKA twigs own words: “when I wrote cellophane over a year ago a visual narrative came to me immediately, I knew I had to learn how to pole-dance to bring it to life, and so that’s what I did. thank you @andrewthomashuang, for elevating my vision beyond words. you are a visionary. @kellyvon thank you for being with me every step of the way on my precious pole yellow brick road. working with you both on this is a dream come true.”
