Belanja: FKA Twigs 'M3LL155X'

Going Shopping is our monthly column where we send Allison Baughman through her memories and through selections from our member store.

Syphoning through the hundreds of thousands of singers and songwriters out right now has become a task. Everyone tries to outdo one another and it all ends up looking like one massive mess. However, there’s something specifically mesmerizing about FKA Twigs.

I remember the first time I ever heard and saw her. My friend in England sent me a video for “Water Me.” It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen, and I wasn’t sure if it was an art project by some new contemporary videographer or an experimental video from a producer. But there was something about her sound, and I Spotified the shit out of her. (Not to mention, after the fancy Spotify poll, I was in the first 2% of listeners, so I’m kind of an expert on this issue.) Over time, her videos became…disturbing. And not necessarily in a negative way, but a way in which three hours after I watched them, an image from the video would pop into my head. When the video for “Pendulum” dropped, I was more than fascinated with her ability to have her leg tied behind her, like some Princess Leia forced in a stag leap for some weird Jabba the Hutt who got off to ballerinas. I did some research, and FKA Twigs is a classically trained ballerina and dancer. Amidst the one million “singer // dancer // songwriter” slew of performers we have out now, it was such a refreshing feeling knowing that this up and coming singer was literally a professional dancer. Her music was this weird, hypnotizing soprano masterpiece. I don’t remember the last time someones voice went that high, and carried it out throughout an entire song. Her music, and videos, put you in a delightful trance, one where the only options to pull away is because your boss is screaming at you; otherwise that repeat button becomes wildly utilized.

In her video journey for M3LL155X, we see what a true artist FKA Twigs really is. We start with a rather uncomfortable scene as her portraying a sex doll, transitioning into a pajama clad pregnant lady, a hip-hop TLC-infused dance trio to a single lyrical piece, into probably one of the coolest parts of the video, a forest-held runway with some of the fiercest voguers in the land. FKA Twigs sits in the middle like the queen that she is, coming in for an intense vogue moments later. The video shows not only incredible artistic direction by the lady herself, but the social commentary throughout the scenes sends chills up and down your spine. It’s dark, light, colorful, entertaining, and thought provoking all in one.

You could say the same for the video for “Two Weeks.” The slow, minimal camera movement lasts the entirety of the video, slowly, but surely panning out to a gold world where Twigs reigns as a large (literally) queen, surrounded by small dancing women in what seems like an Egyptian kingdom. I’m unsure how it’s possible, but her music and video, although are both immensely emotional and aesthetically powerful, never override each other. They only compliment one another, which is an extremely hard task to fill when your so extremely creative in both mediums. There has never been a song that doesn’t send chills up my back, and there has never been a video that takes the chills away. They only enhance them.

Twigs is a timeless artist. Her fusion of deep, dark synths and minimal, experimental beats under the juxtaposition of angelic vocals and strong lyrics, create a dynamic that will be remembered for ages.

M3LL155X is in the member store now.