- 3 hours ago
After FKA twigs finished Eusexua, her blissed-out ode to dance floors everywhere, she realized she had more songs left in her. A feeling of non-stop inspiration led to Eusexua Afterglow, her new LP and an extension of a musical era that’s won her a Mercury Prize nod, a Grammy nomination, and tons of new fans finally catching up to her inventive, otherworldly vision.
We recently relaunched the Rolling Stone Interview as a video podcast, and on this episode the British experimental artist and polymath known for her genre-bending sounds and gravity-defying dance moves sits down with Deputy Music Editor Julyssa Lopez and goes deeper on how the new album came together — and what it means to find healing on the dance floor.
We recently relaunched the Rolling Stone Interview as a video podcast, and on this episode the British experimental artist and polymath known for her genre-bending sounds and gravity-defying dance moves sits down with Deputy Music Editor Julyssa Lopez and goes deeper on how the new album came together — and what it means to find healing on the dance floor.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00when I was like uh about like 23 I was in this cab this like cabin he was like this guy who I was
00:08like chatting to this cabin I was like oh like what are you doing now he was I'm going to a
00:12life coaching seminar I'm like what's a life coaching seminar he's like when someone talks
00:16to you about how to like live your life and how to make your life better I was like okay I'll go
00:22where's this I was like it was in Brixton I was like I'll go I said this is hilarious I was like
00:26why not I'm not doing anything I'll just so I went with this cabbie to a life coaching seminar
00:31and it was incredible and this guy was talking and he said like vulnerability is sexy
00:35hi twigs welcome to the rolling stone interview oh thank you for having me of course thank you for
00:50being here um I just had the pleasure of hearing Eusexua Afterglow um and have listened to it
00:59non-stop in the last few days um I really want to start hearing a little bit about what it was about
01:06the this era of your music that made you think okay I'm not quite done there's more songs to do
01:15there's more stories to be told here well I think I mean it's really interesting because
01:21for me as a younger artist like obviously I always wanted to make music and I wanted to release music
01:26and I've always been really curious about the type of artist I am because I'm always discovering that
01:33and in the beginning I thought maybe I was like a visual artist or maybe a performance artist even like
01:38the time before I released my first music I wasn't sure if I was a music artist music artist or maybe
01:45something a bit more left um and then it it's been really interesting for me trying to fit my music
01:53into um a traditional album release structure it's something that I've always struggled with and and I
02:01think after all of my projects has always been like this this burst of creativity afterwards so at the end
02:08of finishing an album which is you know the label delivered strike official thing I just often have
02:15this big surge of inspiration and and this big release what did that surge of inspiration feel
02:22like and how did it start shaping the the new songs the majority of the songs um
02:27were brand new so I'd say a good like 80 85 percent I made in a two month period and then a couple of
02:36them were ideas that I had for a long time so for example wild and alone I began to write that
02:4110 years ago oh wow and then it actually leaked it I had like this huge like leaking disaster where
02:47I had like 85 demos leak and that was one of the ones that leaked um but then so then I reimagined it
02:54so it sounded different and then when it was finished I was like I think pink pantherist would sound
02:57incredible on this but other than wild and alone and I think stereo boy as well as from like
03:04something that I started a few years ago but everything else was just in this incredible
03:10I guess six week period of purging and inspiration and and just kind of being very free and meeting
03:19some incredible new collaborators as well it's all just been very natural I don't know I'm just going
03:23I'm just going with the flow and I was laughing at kind of the the stories in these songs like
03:30there we were talking before there was one about kind of being um alone and having been separated
03:37from your friends and kind of these like club stories and and the different things that that
03:43happens um tell me a little bit about sort of that the experiences that inspired these these songs and
03:50what you were drawing from especially that sort of club experience that I think is sort of central to
03:55to to to both uh to both records well I think I have
04:00two sides of my personality like one side is that I'm an absolute purist and like very serious and I
04:09take my craft very seriously and I like to practice and and if I discover something I really want to play
04:14pay homage to the roots of where it came and I have to like study and and go really deep into the
04:21like to the very like seed of the art and for me that's you sexual and then there's this other side
04:29of my personality which is like I don't know I mean without getting into like star signs but I'm a
04:37Sagittarius stellium so I have like four um saggy placements in my chart and that's me like I am
04:44I will rile up a party like I will make everyone go out you know I'll make everyone stay out till like
04:50early hours of the morning and kind of facilitate a good time and for me afterglow it's like the
04:58release of you sexual it's it's about when you leave the club and you don't want to go home and
05:03you want to feel it's it's like it starts with love crimes where it's like you're leaving the club
05:09and then it goes into like this fun kind of sexy stage of the music it's like wild and alone and
05:19hard and and and this this kind of moment and then it just goes into like whoa like I'm feeling
05:28fucked up now like and it's at that moment where you start like questioning everything in your life and
05:33and then people start leaving you know when you're just out and you're like I'm having such a good time
05:37and then you like move rooms yeah and you're just kind of like whoa I shouldn't have like left the
05:41existential crisis yeah yeah but it's nice as well like I love that or you know people join the room
05:47and you're like now the energies change or people leave the room and you're like no like I need like
05:52those people I need to stay with these people we have to stay together all night like this kind of
05:55feeling and and the sort of end of the second third of the record is is that that really when you're
06:03kind of like reckoning with yourself and it's wavy so we really played with a lot of
06:07changing the time like changing the bpm of the tracks and and everything's slightly off grid and
06:13lost all my friends is it's just almost like that moment before you get home
06:17and you're like wait I didn't say goodbye to that person or I'm not sure how I got from here to there or
06:24you know you're just kind of wavy.
06:28you sexual itself you've said that it's really sort of about I think you described it like
06:34finding a euphoric space where you can transcend your physical human form which is something that
06:42really stuck with me especially when you're thinking about those moments on the dance floor
06:47when you lose yourself when you kind of really can achieve that feeling I'm curious why it was
06:54important for you to do that and and sort of that idea of transcending your physical form kind of
06:59where that where that came from and that where that impulse came um because life can be so hard you
07:05know and it can be so stressful and I don't know it's this there's so much tension all the time I really
07:11feel for young people like growing up online and all of the pressures that that holds I mean you
07:19couldn't pay me to go back to being a teenager not before social media but if someone said like
07:24I don't know like 10 million pounds go back to being 16 I'd be absolutely not like
07:29absolutely not and I can't even imagine what that's like now like for young people just to
07:34have the pressure of of creating this self online that is imprinted from when you're 12 13 to then
07:43when you get your first job and every political stance that you have and and every idea that you
07:50had at 16 every person that you dated every person that you were friends with the way that you dressed
07:54the ideas that you were starting to form as a young person all of that is just tracked and you can be
08:00ridiculed for it or torn apart or judged at any second um and I've have felt that pressure as well you
08:08know as an adult I felt that pressure and and and that's what you sexual is about it's it's about
08:14realizing that was so much more than the pressure so much more than our ideas of who we think we are
08:22it's it's a pretty you know I'm not the first person to have this idea it's just maybe the first time in
08:28my life where I believed it it's gotten a lot of buzz obviously it was shortlisted for mercury prize and
08:35there's a lot of grammy excitement around it how do you feel about the reaction it's sort of elicited
08:41both kind of among your fans and also in the industry um I mean honestly it's it's been really
08:51incredible I'm really grateful it's been confusing at times as well um awesome I think it's been confusing
09:00because I don't know if it whether it's because you sexual was maybe like more popular than some of my other
09:10albums I think at times like I saw stuff online and I'd be like what like people don't like it
09:16and I think some of my fans maybe have you know that can be hard on me which I get you know it's just part of
09:22the job that I have um but then it's been confusing because sometimes I've thought like
09:29oh maybe people don't like it and then I'll go and play a festival with 80 000 people and they're
09:34all screaming the words back at me so again it's just been this amazing journey of like
09:39realizing that the things that happen in real life like that's the truth you know if I'm playing
09:46primavera or you know I play some of the the biggest stages I've ever played in my career and
09:51everyone's singing the words back at me like everyone's hanging off every single lyric and um
09:59I think it's just really testament there's there is something to kind of that live moment when it
10:04does become a tangible thing and I think I saw you at ladyland you headlining there I think that was
10:09such a real moment where you could really see the impact that that it had made yeah and so I I guess
10:16moments like that seem like the moment where it crystallizes into a real thing
10:21as much as it can I guess exactly and I think I wasn't used to that because when I my last album
10:27magdalene I didn't tour because of covid so I hadn't really had that feeling for a long time not
10:32since 2019 because I mean I did tour it but I basically toured magdalene before it came out and
10:39then just as it came out um and then I was supposed to do the big tour in 2020 and of course like I
10:46couldn't do it so I never really with magdalene had that moment to understand how it had seeped
10:52into culture whereas you sex you are just the boomerang like the ricochet of it was much quicker
10:57because I went and I was on the road straight away after releasing it but I don't know it's amazing I
11:03think that people that understand you sexual they really get it yeah you know people that are ready to
11:10think about those types of things like really understand it and you know like the fans they
11:15change the music as well like the way that they receive it and give it back to me it changes the
11:21meaning of everything which I love I know that like the community around me feels really strong and it
11:28feels like it's growing and it feels like it means something and I've always been very intent as an artist
11:34I don't want to like miss any steps on the ladder in terms of my growth I've always said I want to do
11:39every single step I don't want to kind of miss a step and then have like a huge like global worldwide
11:48smash because I like missed a step and I maybe did something too much to get it yeah like before you
11:55were ready before I was ready like I really have always wanted to grow the community step by step step
12:00by step because then I feel like if I fall off the ladder there'll be something to catch me rather than
12:06you know I sometimes feel for artists when they have like a huge hit straight away in their career
12:12and then yeah and then it's really hard I don't know I just I feel for artists now actually sometimes
12:18that have a huge hit and all of a sudden they have to go and perform in front of huge crowds and they
12:25don't have their sea legs yet yeah they don't have the reps in or yeah yeah yeah exactly and because
12:31when you're performing you've got to kind of yeah you have to get your sea legs and I did when I was
12:37younger when I was like the house singer at the box which you can imagine was like raucous you know I
12:43have people like throwing drinks at me and screaming and like everyone's like naked and running around
12:48and like you know you're like singing a song and someone's like throwing up or like making out and
12:55execute and you're just like what's happening you know but I feel like it really made me very tough
13:00on stage like anything can happen I actually love it when things go wrong on stage because I'm just
13:04like oh how can I overcome this yeah um but yeah I've always been very intent on just doing everything
13:13step by step by step by step and it feels like Eusexua has just been like a natural step to growing
13:18my fan base and a natural step to being able to meet like meet more people and reach more people
13:25with my art you talked a little bit about sort of you know it being a love letter to community and also
13:31um not quite you know not exactly like a club album but sort of a love letter to those experiences I
13:39want to hear about some of your favorite club experiences and in general oh okay so when I I just
13:46finished my Eusexua like the first leg of my Eusexua tour and we were in Amsterdam
13:51and so I was with all the dancers my stylist makeup artist hair stylist we were like okay we're gonna go
13:57out and um we went to this club and we didn't really we were just told this is like has the best
14:02techno music so we were like okay let's go and I came off stage and I had like this like
14:10red leather jacket and red leather pants that were like matching obviously like on stage it looked
14:17incredible but when you like when you like leave the stage I kind of look like a power ranger
14:22but like and so I went to this club and this girl looked at me and she was like have you been here
14:30before and I was like no in my power ranger outfit and she's like do you even know like what DJ is
14:38playing tonight and I was like I was like no and she was like okay well you're gonna have to stand to
14:46the side and read the club rules and memorize all the DJs on the I know on like the night yeah and I was
14:57like okay and so like I went and I was like with like my stylist and a couple of the dancers and I'm
15:04messaging everyone at this point because like all my crew are like in the queue like but further back
15:09and I messaged them I'm like guys like you have to memorize the house rules and the DJ list so I'm
15:15like reading it studying it and then she comes and she was like asked me some questions and I was I
15:21don't know I was like so nervous pub quiz no it was crazy I was like I was under it I'm gonna I
15:27was going through I was also like you know having a good time as well so I was just like oh my gosh
15:32trying to like be very respectful it was like being at school and she's like what are the house rules
15:37I was like you're not allowed to put your jackets on the speakers no talking on the dance floor um
15:43don't hit anyone when you dance and like the DJs are and she was like okay you can come in oh my god
15:52I was like you got in though you passed yeah I got in but it was just funny because she looked
15:58at me and she was like she was like you've never been out before and I was like no no I have been
16:02out before I just I'm dressed as a power ranger and it's a long story I was like it's a long story but
16:08I wasn't gonna do the whole like I was just headlining this festival I was like I'm just gonna
16:12like I'll just take it on the chin and and do the work to get yeah to get in you got in we did have
16:18a good time um that reminds me I spent a lot of time I lived in Berlin for four years but it's like
16:23the same thing at when you go into some clubs there where it's like they act like you get like a mini
16:29pop quiz where they're like who's teaching tonight and if you don't know or like you look like you're
16:34too eager to get in and you won't get in yeah I like it and I don't know if it's like this in the
16:39UK but in the US it feels so like it is kind of about like being seen and you get really dressed
16:45up and you wear high heels and then in Germany especially there's some clubs that you go to
16:50and like you're expected to go in sneakers and you're just expected to dance all night yeah which
16:55I feel like is such a healthy kind of like way to approach sometimes dance itself that's what I love
17:02like when I mean that was when I first really started connecting to dance music I mean I said this a
17:08million times but I was in Prague and it's just like very it's just very raw there in the best
17:15way like you're there just literally to yeah dance and have a good time and and find yourself and just
17:22go with it and and that's when it kind of clicked in more with me not that I hadn't experienced that
17:27before but because I had but I think I just needed that culture shock to for it to like fully sink in
17:32when did you know that you wanted to be a performer because it sounds like you started incredibly
17:36incredibly young it was more that I just had this like place I would go inside myself like this place
17:41of reflection and imagination and like adults always found it very fascinating so I just have
17:47a very big imagination and I like like describe things and in big detail and I would love to sort of
17:54create like a dance or a puppet show or you know my parents my mom's not like a hippie it's not like
18:02that my mom's like like super cool and very like sharp and and kind of with it when I was young
18:08but she had like a kind of like this hippie side to her I guess or this other side to her where I
18:16wasn't allowed like plastic toys or anything when I was growing up I only could have like hand-painted
18:21wooden toys and I grew up in the country so lots of craft fairs we would like you know paint acorns and
18:27you know those are my toys it was it wasn't like victorian but like I I like didn't have like
18:34normal the toys I can have like a game boy or like you know like barbies or I I did have like barbie
18:42dolls but um my mom would get me dolls that were like black or like different cultures you know I didn't
18:50have like my toys were more kind of related to the way that I looked or things I wanted to do
18:59if that makes sense yeah so I had like this set of dolls and they're from around the whole world
19:04yeah and they like all look different they were from everywhere like Sweden and Asia and India and
19:11America and like they all had like different hair and different colored skin and like
19:16my mom was very like there's like different people in the world and and like everyone's the same and
19:22she brought me up in a way like I she was very into like religion but not as a um not in like a kind
19:31of dogmatic way but more in a way like there are religions and they're there to help you be a good
19:37person and they're there for you to learn from so I went to a catholic school but at home there were like
19:43buddhas in my house and different kind of religious iconography like she kind of made a
19:51mixtape of yeah of different spiritualities I was gonna say it sounds like a really spiritual
19:57upbringing without being specifically religious I had a very spiritual upbringing it was very gentle
20:02you know like it was very imaginative and gentle and it was strict in some ways but
20:08in a good way I think then you started performing in videos like early in your in your career
20:15yeah and modeling um I'm curious especially in that video world what that was like for you kind
20:23of as a dancer and and doing videos for like Kylie Minogue and and and different artists like what
20:30do you remember about that that time I don't know it was quite fab like I kind of loved it and I hated it
20:35but I learned a lot and it kind of got me set ready what did you hate about it I mean any dancer can
20:41relate just the constant audition and casting circuit you know it's just like a lot the casting circuit
20:50when you're just like every single day like going to auditions and and like going into town and
20:56it being something that they want you to be you know so one day it will be but I don't know like
21:04looking for four sexy girls that do I don't know I mean it could be unlike like Bollywood dancing and
21:15you're like maybe could I try that you're like maybe do you know what I mean so you're going and
21:20you're just like yeah ish do you know what I mean and and and then the next day it will be
21:26yeah like looking for um yeah like classically trained dancers you know of this age and you're
21:35like okay yeah I guess I'll try and do that so it's I don't know for me as a dancer it's always like
21:41trying to fit into something that was like almost it and I think as well because I was like mixed race
21:49as well I could kind of I was like constantly like what's the word like assimilating into something
21:55that wasn't like a hundred percent what I was but almost and it was fine it was I learned a lot I
22:03mean like I have like really good like set etiquette because I've just been on loads of music videos
22:08from when I was a kid and I just have like a good duration I can't explain it's like I have good
22:14stamina for things I think in the end I kind of carved out something quite special for myself and
22:19I got to work with incredible directors very early on in my career like Roman Gavras and
22:24Daniel Wolfe and it's so funny because you know like Daniel Wolfe who's an incredible
22:28uh director you know he literally and I always say to him like he kept me alive in London if it wasn't for
22:36his work that he would continuously give me I probably would have had to like move back in with my
22:42mum or you know like get another job and not be able to perform I got to be in videos of like
22:48Jake Gyllenhaal and Ed Sheeran and Cheryl Cole and like Dance with Plan B and I don't know Kylie Minogue
22:54and all these huge stars at the time and I think I just had such reverence for how much it took to be
23:00an artist because I got to see it from a different side and I also got to see it from a point of like
23:05supporting someone else's vision as well um yeah and I remember I did this like Roman um
23:12Roman Gavras cast me in this Adidas advert and Little Sims was in it as well actually
23:16no no way yeah but this is like pre this is like pre Little Sims pre FKA twigs we both got cast in
23:22this video and I think it was like I don't know it was a lot of money for me then it was like
23:27you know a few thousand pounds and it was like a lifeline I remember like doing this dance audition
23:33and praying I remember going home being like please I was like please God if you like if you
23:39give me this Adidas advert because I had to I'm about to move house and I needed it for a deposit
23:44or something I was like please if you give me this Adidas advert I was like I'll just be the best
23:48person ever I'll be so kind and generous and sweet you know and I don't know I think it was just hard
23:54like having like when you're an artist having your life like dependent on getting a job it's just
23:59like really difficult that's why for my dancers I always try and make it like a very
24:02like beautiful experience for my dancers that I work with because I've just been there I know
24:09what it's like I'm like always just like you know just like do you my dancers I'm always like you know
24:13what like if you want to do the move like that okay like it's not yeah gonna make for a better show
24:19I think yeah having seen you live a lot it seems like you guys are really close we're obsessed with
24:24wait so did you get the Adidas ad I got it yeah I did I got it yeah
24:31do you have other favorite um like music videos or experiences during that time that you look back
24:38at really fondly or that or with a certain artist that maybe feel like gave you a blueprint for for
24:44the things you wanted to do I mean Kylie was fab what was that like being on that side she didn't
24:50come to a lot of the rehearsals um she was like busy doing something else else and then she turned
24:56up the day before so sweet so present such a little cutie that came in and I was like dancing next to
25:06her because like I'm really small and like she's really petite as well and she just came in and she
25:12was like hey where have I got to stand okay I come here okay I walk there she's like what's the move
25:16she's like okay got it and I was like I was like we've been rehearsing for a week and I barely have
25:22it and she was like no I think I can do it I'm like okay and then we went and we did a run of it
25:28and she just did every single step perfect I was just like wow I was like okay I was like that's
25:33like levels yeah I was like that's like levels she's like so professional and just like very sweet
25:38and then years later I saw her at a party and I was like when I was like FK twigs then and I was like
25:44oh I was your back and dancer she was like oh I know I'm so proud she's like I've been looking
25:47I was like okay that's so cool yeah she's really sweet yeah what was sort of like the emotional pull
25:53of like I want to write my own songs and I want to have my own voice in music like I started to
25:57really get into like underground club scenes but like I was very into like shibari and like BDSM and
26:06like these kind of underground London clubs with like these really cool DJs and I went to this it was like
26:12this uh it's a joint party between Song Blue which is a really amazing like tattoo collective
26:19and a like bondage wear company were doing a joint party and I went there and there was this guy there
26:30called Tick who was on the door and he was like oh like who are you and I was like I'm twigs he's
26:35like what do you I was like I'm a music artist and I don't even know why I said that because like
26:39I was making music but I wasn't like I'd never said it before like I'm a music artist you know
26:44it just came out and then he just became quite infatuated with the idea of working with me and
26:50like come let's make music I was just like this guy I was like he's obsessed um and then like I went
26:57in the studio with him and it was just like magnetic like straight away like we just got on this insane
27:04role and we wrote all of EP1 I think in a week or two and so I had this like sound which felt really
27:11fresh and it was like the first time that I had started to not fully produce myself but he was just
27:17very welcoming to me like playing because I've always like played a bit from when I was young
27:23and studied music but he had these like really cool drum machines and I was kind of like you know
27:28like making music in a different way a lot more kinetically and something was clicking um he was very
27:33he really like facilitated something he really like listened to what I wanted to do it was fab
27:39and we made these songs I had no label like no one knew who I was apart from like you know just
27:47underground like party scene we released all the stars yeah EP1 on like my own white label and we put
27:53it on uh YouTube and I'd kind of clocked that a lot of people were at that time listening to music on
28:00YouTube it's like pre-streaming so a lot of people were listening to music on YouTube and I'd made
28:05these kind of like weird like what we now know was a gif but like gifs weren't like like a thing
28:12yeah I mean they existed but they weren't like a thing how they are now but I made these kind of weird
28:17like like reverse kind of like movement images and it's sort of saying I kind of was thinking oh maybe
28:23I'll go and be like a visual artist I didn't know what I wanted to do but I just dropped all this work
28:27online and it just went viral and then that was it how did your songwriting evolve especially
28:34thinking about some of the the more recent work and kind of how vulnerable it's it's been and
28:41thinking back to Magdalene too and even just like music where you talk about
28:45surgery and like physical pain and these things that are uh really raw in a lot of ways kind of how did
28:54that muscle kind of start developing um I just love telling the truth I just have to tell the
29:01truth I think like when I was in my teens I like really struggled with like who I was and where I was
29:11from and where I was brought up and I would find myself like not on purpose in a bad way but covering
29:20things or just not being myself I grew up in a very white area and my upbringing was like very very
29:27confusing for me just like being a mixed race person in a white area but then I didn't know my biological
29:33dad till I was older but I had a stepdad who raised me who was black so but everything it made sense but
29:39it didn't quite make sense I think I've I found it very difficult because um like my family like from
29:48very like working class Birmingham but then my mum really like encouraged me with my education and
29:55and really like pushed me to get into a private school in the midlands in London I'm sorry in
30:01the midlands in England and um I remember like the summer before I sat the test like she would
30:07literally make me do like a practice tests every single day and like the summer holidays I'd like go
30:12out I'd come back and before dinner I'd sit at like the kitchen table and have to do like a practice test
30:17so I got into this really good private school but I was got in on like a scholarship so I was like
30:24the bursary kids um and all the other kids they had like so much money they were so privileged and
30:29like we lived in a tiny flat my mum was like on benefits and like we just didn't really have anything
30:33um so then it was just really weird because I had like this really good education and a lot of the
30:42emphasis was on like talking properly and using your words and writing well and they really like
30:51installed a lot of confidence in the students which was like really amazing but ultimately like
30:57for me it like wasn't real because I wasn't white and I wasn't middle or upper upper class and so then
31:05when I moved to London it was like really confusing for me because then I'm like a brown girl who's
31:10working class who speaks really well who's had this amazing amazing education but now I'm at
31:15Croydon College like go sort that out do you know what I mean and I sound like and I speak well and
31:22also like a farmer at the same time do you know what I mean because I you know I'm from like the
31:27Midlands so I think that I was always as a teenager like very like guarded about my life like I would
31:35never want to say to my friends at Croydon College like oh actually like I got a scholarship to go to
31:41a private school in the country my teens and my like 20s were like just very like guarded with
31:49information in terms of like me trying to fit in anywhere and then fitting in nowhere so by the time
31:57I got into my early 20s and I started to discover alternative scenes and all these little spaces
32:05where you can be yourself oh my god yeah like what a really for me do you know I mean where you meet
32:10other people that have had like a similar upbringing or like look like more similar to you or think the
32:17same as you and and it's like like not pressure you know that pressure to like really fit in wasn't
32:23there and then I just found like in my 20s of like just telling the truth oh my god what a relief
32:29yeah you know and then randomly when I went to when I was like uh about like 23 I was in this cab
32:39this like cabin he was like this guy who I was like chatting to this cabin I was like oh like what
32:44are you doing now he was I'm going to a life coaching seminar I'm like what's a life coaching
32:48seminar he's like when someone talks to you about how to like live your life and how to make your life
32:53better I was like okay I'll go where's this I was like it was in Brixton I was like I'll go I said
32:59this is hilarious I was like why not I'm not doing anything I'll just so I went with this cabbie to a
33:03life coaching seminar and it was incredible and this guy was talking and he said like vulnerability is
33:08sexy and he did this whole segment of the thing of like how being vulnerable is really sexy like how
33:17just being yourself and how like telling people like this is where I'm at today but like doing it
33:25not in any way like wanting anything but just like being truthful and just being yourself like that's
33:32hot you know and that really stuck with me and then it really changed my songwriting like that changed
33:39my songwriting from that point because I was like oh I can write about kind of complicated
33:44sexual dynamics or I can write about finding my sensuality in my early 20s like on LP1 like kicks
33:55at 23 writing about like masturbation or something you know I was kind of like it became like this thing
34:00of me of like what can I tell the truth about so when it comes to Magdalene you know I had fibroids
34:05and I'd gone through this like incredible amount of pain and operations and dealing with it I was just
34:11like yeah like apples cherries pain like yeah that's where I'm at you know
34:16I do wonder if you were talking before just how the age that we live in and and sort of in sort of a
34:31social media world and especially now how public you've become and has that relationship to to
34:38vulnerability changed at all like do you ever find yourself not wanting to share those things or
34:44thinking about it before you put it on paper in some ways yeah because I think there are a lot of
34:48things I think that happened like during you sexually like I mean I had like an absolute touring disaster
34:55like I had like an insane touring disaster and it was like very hard because I think like my fans
35:02thought that one thing was going on but it was like the opposite what they thought and what they
35:07perceived was like the opposite and I kind of was caught between this thing of like for years having
35:13like a very small sturdy caring gentle I think my fan base are quite sensitive like sensitive fan base that
35:22I could say something to and and they would like understand like the nuance of who I am and whether
35:30something's a joke or not or or kind of like know if if like I'm struggling with something and I'm
35:37trying to fix something to then like the audience growing and like I guess people not really knowing
35:42me and kind of that like parasocial relationship of like thinking yes yeah and I've never had that
35:49before so I think yeah with you sexual I kind of experienced people thinking that they know everything
35:54about me and you know they don't and and so I really battled specifically with the touring stuff
36:01on like how much to divulge like what was going on which is actual hell and just sucking it up and I
36:10just made the decision at a certain point because I was trying to like say little tidbits but not the
36:15whole thing and I just made a decision at the certain point where I was like you know what
36:18it's actually like no one's business and like I'm just gonna have to like deal with this and put on
36:24my big girl pants and suck it up and make this better and I did and I was like so proud of myself
36:29like the way that I was able to handle that situation and like just come back from like the
36:35brink of destruction um yeah it's been I'm really on like as a human I'm just really proud of myself how
36:44I was able to get through that because it was like really difficult I did want to ask you about
36:49the sort of that touring and and how that period affected kind of where um maybe the the way that
36:56you approach your career because now it seems like it really kind of inspired you to take the reins
37:01yourself and like do a lot of things yourself and figure out all of these things um talk to me a
37:08little bit about what that has been like and what it's meant to you to kind of take things and
37:14kind of do them yourself it's been really difficult but really incredible I like trusted some people
37:22to handle things like with my business as all artists do yeah you know you pay people extremely
37:27well to look after you and protect you and to make the right decisions and to cross the t's and dot the
37:33i's and all that stuff and and like they didn't do it and ultimately like the only person that that
37:39falls down on is me like is fk twigs as the brand and it was just a real learning curve for me to be
37:46like okay I need to be really strict with who I have around me on like the business side of what I do
37:51and learn more about the music business if I had any advice to any artist it would be to like take care of
38:02all of that stuff yeah or to understand all of that stuff yourself from the beginning
38:08because I think that for me especially like as a young woman of color when I started out there's
38:13like this idea that like oh you just like tap dance and sing around a bit you know what I mean
38:18you do do that thing you do you know you know that like perform yeah go on like click your heels and
38:24like do the thing and make everyone clap and put on your hot pants and your false eyelashes
38:29go on love get a little slap on the ass as you go on stage and you'll just say like
38:33like this like doing this dance routine and like not actually understanding that like you have like
38:40a monster amazing business that like the world like is your oyster and like what you can create
38:48yourself is is like limitless and you're doing a lot because there's also I mean there's also a movie
38:54coming to a bunch of movies to be clear um but the carpenter sun is is coming soon tell me about
39:02that experience and sort of the acting side of your of your career and the things that you're doing
39:06there it's amazing to just slot into someone else's dream you know like a director and yeah the
39:13producers and the writer have made this dream and I kind of just I just feel like a toolbox and I just
39:19say okay like which bit of me do you want and which bit do you not want and and then I just go in and
39:24it's like I'm just used as part of a tool you know to carve out something beautiful and I really love
39:31that takes a lot of like regulation as well because you know film sets are just like long and it's just
39:36quite like arduous it's like stamina like waking up every single day like sometimes you know 5am every
39:43single day doing like long days sometimes you've got like prosthetics or tattoos or you know you're in
39:48the chair for ages and it's just like a lot of patience and stamina and you kind of just all
39:54really fall in love with each other and it's everything's very equal on a film set as well
39:59because you just see the same people every day so whether it's like your PA or the runner or like
40:03the makeup assistant or Nicolas Cage or Nicolas Cage you know like you'll all end up you're all you've
40:10got the same north star so you're basically all striving towards the same thing so in that way
40:15there's like this incredible equality that's created and this this family that you you make
40:20for those weeks or months that you're together yeah are there any stories with Nicolas Cage or any of
40:25the other actors that stick out or that kind of make you think of that family dynamic that's a good
40:31question oh I remember like because like when we were on when we were on set with Nick and I was talking
40:38to um the makeup artist that worked on the carpenter's son called Tilda and we were talking
40:43about going out we were in Athens and we were like oh I wonder if we can I find a rave or something at
40:48the weekend to go to and like I you know like Nick he's he's like a cool guy like I kind of I was like
40:54I wanted to like talk to him more do you know what I mean but he's quite like stoic so I was like I'm
40:58just gonna like respect his space and then and then he was like overhearing our conversation he was
41:03like oh what like you girls going out and I was like yeah we might go out the weekend he's like
41:07what you're gonna go and get the ya-ya's out oh my god and I was like get the ya-ya's out
41:12and he was like yeah he was like when you go out and you're like get the ya-ya's out and oh my gosh
41:17that's just like stuck with me now like whenever whenever I'm out I'm gonna go and get the ya-ya's
41:22out yeah so cute I love I'm gonna think about that now yeah um did you convince him to go out at any
41:30point or to join the rave absolutely not no like I think Nick has got like the quickest like de-rigging
41:38situation that I've ever seen like de-rigging is basically like when you take off your costume
41:42yeah so like he is it is cut and he is like back with his family it's inspiring yeah yeah well I was
41:50gonna say did you learn anything from that experience do you I think like Nick really like locks in before
41:54a scene like before a scene like I mean not that I remember like laughing or joking because I'm not
41:59like that either but like you just really see him like go into himself before a scene and that's
42:04yeah it's like I felt like I learned a lot of just that taking those moments like that five minutes
42:11before you start is like really sacred and he'd always go and like take himself off and like get
42:16into the thing and when when he turns around turns around again he's like very much like in the
42:20character straight away yeah he's on like from when it's take one it's like really consistent like take
42:27one to take however many it's he's really consistent all the way through I'm curious about
42:31other people and kind of any uh art form that you want to work with in the in the future I feel like
42:38we've seen you collaborate with a lot of people how do you approach collaborations like how did how
42:41does something like that happen with like getting northwest on a song I mean I don't know I just like
42:47it when it's natural I just always follow omens all of my collaborations although maybe seem
42:54sometimes kind of like far out for me it's just because it's happened I'll be thinking
43:00I'll literally be thinking to myself like oh I should have like a child on this song and then
43:06like somehow like Kim will message me
43:08is that how that happened and she messaged you out of the blue um I'm trying to think exactly how it
43:21came I think actually like to be honest with you like um yay actually helped set it up through a
43:29friend like in the beginning and then and then Kim was very uh just helpful and sweet and helping
43:40kind of finish it all off but um yeah I mean both both yay and Kim helped it happen what was she
43:46like once we were doing the Japanese it's like the best well like when we were on set we were just
43:51like cheering North on I don't know like I I feel like for me like in the video it's one of the first
43:58times I really saw North let go a tiny bit like I think you know she's so cool and she's so sweet and
44:04she's so grounded actually as well and then I just felt like she was really sparkly like she was just
44:12very like playful and very sparkly and I'd not seen that side of her so you know everyone off set
44:18was just like woo woo you know I I just it's something so incredible like about that age you
44:25know from like 10 to like 15 to be encouraged to do something that you love no matter who you are
44:30it's like so important to encourage young people to do what they want to do um and and so yeah it was
44:37just it was really like special to like have her on the song and be able to like facilitate that
44:44moment especially as like she's kind of crossing from being like a child to like a little young
44:49lady and it's just like such like a precious like delicate yeah yeah it's just such a delicate
44:54precious like gorgeous time and and so I was just like grateful to have collaborated with her and
45:01it's also strange because I wrote that song when I was like 12 13 as well that's one of the ones from
45:05back in the day that my stepdad likes you know exactly so like it was like funny that that we
45:11kind of wrote the song around the same age but of course I'm like 100 years older than her but
45:16but like when we both wrote when we both wrote the song like we were both children in a sense so
45:22that's kind of a magic and nice connection um you're gonna play Coachella this year after
45:28uh that wasn't able to happen yeah before what are you looking forward and just kind of
45:33being able to have that second you know opportunity and and I feel like it's been a long time coming
45:39since it was supposed to happen before and now you're getting kind of a a second chance yeah well
45:45it's actually going to be like a crazy sort of 10 day span because I think I perform at Coachella which
45:52is obviously such like a dream for any artist to to do that so I'll perform at Coachella and then I
45:58think I come to New York and I'm going to perform with um Martha Graham at their like annual show
46:05again which I did and then I'm going to fly back and then go and do Coachella so I I find that that's
46:11so funny for me as an artist because it's really like these two different sides of who I am like
46:15on one side playing Coachella and in LA and this kind of like incredible sort of like hyped up magical
46:23fun festival and then coming to New York to a theater to celebrate a hundred years of Martha
46:28Graham and perform one of their original pieces and then back on the plane back to Coachella to
46:32go and like complete the weekend so I don't know it's funny I'm really curious about how I'm going
46:38to feel in that two weeks because it's definitely yeah it's definitely like such like an intersection
46:44of of who I am there is this kind of you know this this vision like you're the artist who plays
46:50Coachella and then you go dance with Martha Graham and then you fly back and you do all of these
46:55these things um what's the evolution for you feel like as an as an artist and and where you are now
47:01I'd love to I've been thinking about operas you know I'd love to like work on an opera I'd love to
47:07work behind the scenes on things as well like with my creativity I'm really looking forward to getting
47:13older because I really just I want to dance more but like as like an older woman you know like I
47:20really want to be able to like leave some of like the sexualization like the more obvious sexualization
47:27because you know all women are like beautiful and sensual you know at any age but but but leave some
47:35of like the sexualization that comes with being a woman like in a certain age bracket behind you know
47:41really looking forward to having like wrinkly skin I'm wearing like a dress and like flailing
47:45myself around like Tina Bausch you know that's gonna be so bad um I'm really looking forward to
47:50that but I think even just coming back to Afterglow it feels like quite a culmination of all of my work
47:57it feels like there is like the EP1 elements in there with EP2 LP1 Magdalene Capri songs it feels
48:05like somehow in Afterglow like I've been able to encapsulate a lot of different sides of myself
48:11in in the record so I'm just I'm really excited for everyone to hear it because it it's like
48:17just for me as an artist it's been quite special and meaningful to be able to have a have a body of
48:25work that infuses many different sides of me in it yeah yeah well congratulations and thank you so
48:32much for making the time of course thank you so much thank you for having me
48:35you
Recommended
7:23
|
Up next
5:20
3:14
6:18
7:52
8:01
5:50
6:55
4:46
7:07
5:21
6:47
6:06
5:57
5:52
6:32
8:46
6:10
8:55
5:17
8:04
Be the first to comment