FKA twigs

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FKA twigs
Twigs for British Vogue Magazine in 2024.
Information
Birth Name	Tahliah Debrett Barnett
Born	16 January 1988 (age 36)
Origin	Cheltenham, Glouchestershire, England
Years active	2004 - present
Genres	Avant-pop • art pop • electronic • trip hop • indietronica • glitch pop • ambient pop • experimental
Occupation(s)	Singer • songwriter • actress • dancer • producer
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Young • XL • Atlantic
Website	fkatwigsofficial.com

Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 16 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actress. She was born and raised in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and became a backup dancer after moving to London when she was 17 years old. Twigs first entered the music industry with the release of her extended plays EP1 and EP2 in 2012 and 2013 respectively, both of which received highly positive reviews from music critics.

Following the release of her debut studio album LP1 in August of 2014, Twigs gained further recognition after it peaked at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart as well as at number 30 on the US Billboard 200. Twigs released her third extended play M3LL155X a year later in August of 2015. A short film was released in tandem with the extended play featuring 4 out of the 5 songs. In 2016, Twigs debuted one standalone single, "Good to Love", and took a four year long hiatus.

Twigs returned to music with her second studio album MAGDALENE released in November of 2019. The album received widespread universal acclaim upon its release and was featured on numerous year-end lists in 2019. After signing with Atlantic Records, Twigs released her debut mixtape CAPRISONGS in January of 2022. Twigs' work has garnered acclaim and has been described as "genre-bending", drawing on various genres including electronic music, trip hop, and avant-garde.

Early life

Tahliah Debrett Barnett was born and raised in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Her mother is an English woman of Spanish descent who was a former salsa dancer & teacher, and a clothing designer & seamstress, while her father, a musician, is a jazz dancer of Jamaican descent. She was raised by her mother and her stepfather, whom she described as a "jazz fanatic of English, Spanish, Jamaican, and Egyptian descent whose musical collection is incredible". She did not meet her biological father until she was 18 years old.

Twigs grew up in Cheltenham, Glouchestershire surrounded by farmland and described the county as "a very green place" and "kind of in the middle of nowhere". She attended St. Edwards School in Cheltenham, where her teachers hailed her as "an exceptional talent". She attended the school from the age of 11 to 18 with her education having been funded by an academic scholarship. From a young age, she undertook opera and ballet lessons and took part in several St Edward's School productions.

At age 16, Twigs started making music in youth clubs and she moved to South London to pursue a career as a dancer when she was 17. She enrolled at the BRIT School and after changing her focus from dance to music, she transferred to Croydon College to pursue an education in fine arts.

Career

• 2011–2013: Career beginnings, EP1, and EP2
• 2014–2017: LP1 and M3LL155X
• 2018–2020: MAGDALENE

2011–2013: Career beginnings, EP1, and EP2

Twigs in the music video for "Price Tag" by Jessie J. (pictured left)

Twigs first worked as a backup dancer and appeared in numerous music videos for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran, Plan B, and Dionne Bromfield among others. She most notably was a backup dancer for Jessie J in her 2010 music video for "Do It Like a Dude" and she appeared again in her 2011 music video for "Price Tag". Twigs also made an appearance in Dionne Bromfield's music video for her 2011 song "Yeah Right". In 2011, she appeared in a two-minute BBC comedy sketch titled Beyoncé Wants Groceries, as a backup dancer. When Twigs was 18 years old, she began working with local record producers to try to find her own musical sound. Around this time, she wrote the song "I'm Your Doll" and ended up producing a lot of what she considers to be "really bad demos". For a time, she worked as a hostess in a strip club and sang periodically at The Box Soho in Soho.

Twigs photographed for the pre-fall cover of i-D Magazine. (2012)

In 2012, Twigs was photographed for and featured on the pre-fall cover of i-D Magazine. She became known simply as Twigs for the way that her joints crack. She added the initialism FKA to her name when another act called the Twigs – twin sisters active and recording since 1994 – asked her to change her stage name. It was believed or assumed that the "FKA" stood for the business abbreviation "formerly known as", but Twigs has said in multiple interviews that the letters do not stand for anything in particular. Twigs released a music video for her debut single^{[citation needed]} "Hide" on 10 July 2012. The song serves as the first single from Twigs' debut extended play EP1,^{[citation needed]} which was independently released by Twigs on 4 December 2012 through Bandcamp and through vinyl. A music video for each song was uploaded to Twigs' YouTube channel, all them having surpassed one million views individually.

Thumbnail of the music video for "Water Me". (2013)

In May of 2013, Twigs uploaded a music video for the song "How's That", taken from her second extended play EP2. Two months later in August, she uploaded a music video for the extended play's first promotional single "Water Me". Both videos were directed by Japanese-English artist, animator, and musician Jesse Kanda, with the video for "Water Me" going viral and reaching over sixteen million views. That same month, The Guardian profiled Twigs for their "New Band of the Day" feature, describing her as "the UK's best example to date of ethereal, twisted R&B." EP2 was released in September of that year through Young (formerly known as Young Turks) and was produced solely by Twigs and Venezuelan musician and record producer Arca. In December, she was nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2014 prize, and was chosen by Spotify for their Spotlight on 2014 list. Twigs was then featured on Billboard's 14 Artists to Watch in 2014.

2014-2017: LP1 and M3LL155X

Twigs for The Fader Magazine. (2014)

In April of 2014, Twigs appeared on the cover of The Fader Magazine for its 91st issue. She began writing for her then-unnamed debut studio album during a period of "self-hatred", which she considers "quite normal" for a young person. On 24 June, Twigs released the song "Two Weeks", which served as the lead single to her debut studio album LP1 alongside its music video. It has since become her most popular and successful song to date. Twigs directed and guest-starred in the music video for "Ouch Ouch" by rapper Lucki Eck$ having produced the song. Twigs released the song "Pendulum" on 12-inch vinyl as the second single from LP1 on 29 July, serving as a B-side to "Two Weeks". The song was digitally released as the album's second single the next day.

Twigs for The Wild Magazine. (2014)

LP1 was released on 6 August 2014 through Young and received widespread critical acclaim. The album placed very high on numerous year-end lists.

2018–2020: MAGDALENE

To be added.