FKA twigs returns with a tragic, breath-taking ballad.
If someone were to ask you to point out the most creative musicians working today, FKA twigs would have to be one of your top picks. Her music pulls in the best elements of electronica, hip hop, R&B and ambiance to create mind-bending, off-kilter tunes that draw you in. But on “Cellophane,” her first single in three years, she strips her music down to the bone and reveals the raw heartbreak at the center.
Over mournful, sparse piano chords, all of her pain is laid out bare, with the end of a relationship leaving her shattered and filled with self-doubt. Breathy beat-boxing and trembling atmospherics flutter in the background, as FKA twigs gives one of her strongest vocal performances yet. She sings sadly, “Why don’t I do it for you?/Why won’t you do it for me/When all I do is for you?,” her emotional wounds still wide open. It’s a beautiful, harrowing piece.
“Cellophane” is out now.