FKA twigs ‘New Mixtape’ CAPRISONGS’ is music made for healing

With extreme emotion FKA twigs’ second album, 2019 Magdalene, it’s amazing that she never intended to do something so damn dark in the first place. In one BBC podcast interview last year, the musician recalled that before Magdalene, “I really wanted to create something really cool where I could, for example, go on stage with a wind machine in my hair and hundreds of dancers. But my life said otherwise, like, ‘No, that’s not what you have to do now, or maybe forever.’ “

Then, playing with that old twig, because of the new mixtape by the British musician, CAPITALIZE LETTER, out Friday, is her favorite of hers. Maybe that’s the project she wanted to work on years ago – an sonic adventure aimed more at the disco than anything she’s done before – but with some caveats. Yes, this is the lightest and wildest age of 33 of hers, but she also has more scars, more life experience, and more wisdom this time. Rest assured, that’s exactly what makes her dancing here feel even worse – she earns this lightness and she’s infatuated with it.

CAPITALIZE LETTER begin with a verbal introduction, whispering: “Hey, I made you a tape. Because when I feel you, I feel me. And when I feel me, it feels great. What follows is her longest and most meandering collection of music to date – which also means it’s her most rambunctious yet, a word you’ve probably never thought of. to a woman who seems so focused and precise throughout her decades-long career. But the mixtape is meant to be a musical playground, and the branches are sure to spend some time playing here, immersing themselves in contrasting styles and genres over the course of an hour and 17 tracks.

CEO Twigs Production CAPITALIZE LETTER along with El Guincho, the Spaniard known for his collaborations with Rosalía. Together, they tackle Latin pop on icy “honda” and hyperpop on “pamplemousse,” a brilliant, automatic ear bug that will likely make 100 Gecs jealous. Then came “tear club”, the project’s only pre-single single, featuring Weekend and found twigs where she was most blooming, followed by “papi bone,” which sounds like an early Rihanna demo in every best way, with the branches calling themselves “the bubble girl.” champagne ball” of the club.

Those songs — and most of the mixtape’s UI — live up to twigs’ promise that this is music just like “bronzer in the sink” means “a pre-game club,” as she does. described in an Instagram post last week. But CAPITALIZE LETTER not always vivacious or carefree; as we know it now, the twig can also use her soprano as a dagger. She looked like she was about to burst with “carelessness,” as she repeated, “You can be careless with me,” and she lost equal parts and transcendence at breakneck speed “following somehow”. Meanwhile, the standout track “lightbeamers” is a beautiful, emphatic plea to hold us together: “Did you give again? Don’t, don’t do that,” she sings, then reminds herself, “Put it in your phone, read it when you’re down and out / Play it in your car, blast it little. ”

As songs like “lightbeamers” and “mind of men” become a lot more obvious, this is music made for healing. And for the tree branch, part of that healing seems to come from cooperation. Where Magdalene sounds like a pure recluse, this time she’s not alone – which is ironic, considering CAPITALIZE LETTER was written entirely in isolation, when she was physically different from her peers. Twigs has the longest list of collaborators to date, including The Weeknd, Daniel Caesar, Jorja Smith, Rema, Shygirl, Pa Salieu, Unknown T, and Dystopia. Even for songs that don’t feature, she sounds less isolated – get “oh my love”, which makes her use a chorus of backing vocals as she taunts/ scoffed, “Everybody knows that I want your love, why are you playing boys, What’s up?”

Never was CAPITALIZE LETTER‘the mixtape’s more obvious sense of intimacy than infinity (maybe too endless) interspersed, essentially acting as dispatches from the studio of twigs and her friends shooting crap and inflating each other, like in “meta angel”, when a friend tell her, “You’ll be freer, you” the more you’ll love, the more you’ll have fun. ” “Don’t you?” twigs innocently asked, to which the friend replied, “I don’t think so, I know.” Then there’s a hilarious piece of self-aware speech at the end of “pamplemousse,” where a friend begged to know why twigs’ Dua Lipa’s unreleased collaboration, “Why Don’t You Love Me,” had never seen the light of day. (This is probably the universal question. most in the minds of fans CAPITALIZE LETTER, and the song was not included in the watchlist. My guess is that the vault is locked.)

Notably, this is the first release of FKA twigs since she File a lawsuit against ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf, accusing him of sex, assault and mental distress (LaBeouf has denied the charges). CAPITALIZE LETTER, then, is even a victory for the tree branch, who no longer looks like the strange, almost alien-like mystery she was once a part of. Magdalene, the cover features a disturbingly distorted portrait of the musician’s face. Sure, she’s still “that mysterious bitch”, as she reminds us of CAPITALIZE LETTER“opening track”, “riding a dragon”, and she will always be “THE COMES”, according to the mixtape’s soaring cover. But she’s also the most approachable here; she’s more of a friend, someone who has finally felt herself and rediscovered herself. And, who knows, this new music might end up giving her that “cool” moment of windy machine she’s always wanted. God knows she earned it.