Gloucestershire-born artist FKA Twigs (Tahliah Debrett Barnett) is someone known for her wide variety of talents. From writing songs, singing them and producing records, all the way up to dancing and acting; in her latest venture, she’s taken to the world of filmmaking. Directing her own short film in celebration of the International Woolmark Prize (honouring achievements related to fashion), Twigs’ new feature Playscape allows her to show off both her dance and directing skills.
The soundtrack features Duval Timothy and Rosie Lowe’s “He Hu“, before giving way to X-Ray Spex’s “Identity“. It was a collaboration with Juliano Nunes (of Avant Garden collective) and was filmed in New York City’s Noguchi Foundation Museum.
Twigs has said that it’s “an honour to be chosen by the Woolmark Prize to work with such talented designers“. You can see the film down below.
And that’s not all she’s done recently. You can read here about Twigs’ latest mixtape, Caprisongs, which was released in January. It reached no.1 on the US Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and achieved her usual wave of positive reviews in the process.
NME called Caprisongs “the brightest, poppiest music of her career“ in their four-star review, noting that “After pouring her darkest moments into ‘Magdalene’, this varied and playful mixtape represents a moment of release, though it remains to be seen whether Barnett will head further into this direction, or enter a new album era recharged. You suspect, knowing twigs and her crew of chameleon-like collaborators, that she’ll probably continue to do both at once.”
And she’s been finding time for collaborations as well, appearing on the new Yung Lean mixtape – Stardust. The two worked on the track “Bliss“, the video of which you can see below and was directed by Aidan Zamiri.
NME describes the video as “’00s nostalgia “, noting the influence of Nelly’s 2002 video for the track “Dilemma“, which has apparently been keeping the internet meme community busy for a while now. References to the noughties feature, such as an old Nokia phone and Microsoft Excel.
It’s been a bit of a comeback for Lean as well, what with it being his latest full-length work under the Yung Lean moniker, following on from Starz in 2020. Some of the other big names on his mixtape include Skrillex, Thaiboy Digital and Jack Donaghue.
It’s been a good past few years for Twigs, with fans probably as eager as ever for the follow-up to her 2019 studio LP “Magdalene“. If you’re interested in purchasing her latest mixtape or some merchandise, you can follow the link to her website here.
