12 Reasons FKA twigs is About To Be a Star

Before she was known as a solo artist, twigs was a back-up dancer probably best known for her work with Jessie J. Her dancing adds another captivating element to her live performance, but she doesn't overdo it. You see a lot of dancer/singers lip-syncing along while they show off a choreographed routine that leaves them too out of breath to sing. With twigs, it's more subtle, and sometimes it's simply the way she moves. She is in perfect control of her body, and her informed movements are beautiful to witness live.

She might be small, but her voice is big. (“He told me I was so small / I told him water me / I promise I can grow tall / When making love is free”) In a studio, on a stage, even outdoors in the middle of abandoned ruins... no matter the setting, that voice is a force. Even when she sings in a hushed, soft-spoken tone, it dominates the surrounding noise and rings with conviction.

With social media, everyone's connecting with everyone, and things are more collaborative than ever. The danger with this is that sometimes artists are too quick to jump in and work with as many people as possible, and sometimes this dilutes their own style. Right now, FKA twigs is one of the cool new girls in town, and everyone wants to link up with her. Luckily, twigs is careful about who she collaborates with, and she's looking to keep everything genuine. In an interview with Pitchfork, she explained:

Sometimes when people reach out to me I can just tell that they don't really know why they're reaching out to me. It's because Instagram, Twitter, or a link told them to. It's not because they have any interest or understanding about what I do, and I can read it straight away. I always flirt with the idea of working with someone big and famous, but it hasn't really happened for me yet. I’m still an underground thing.

FKA twigs knows how important it is to be selective with her collaborators, but the people she does choose to work with are, without exception, awesome. There was Young Turks' Tic (SBTRKT, Sampha, Jessie Ware) on her first EP and then Arca on her second, not to mention inc., who she made a song and zine with, and Chicago rapper Lucki Eck$ who she worked with on "Ouch Ouch." Then there are her visual collaborators—Jesse Kanda on her album artwork and two videos from her second EP and Nabil on the glorious "Two Weeks" video.

FKA twigs is a lady of great taste, and we can't wait to see who she works with in the future.

The music twigs makes isn't the kind of music obvious for a concert setting. It's heavily electronic. It twitches and pulsates. It requires insane vocals. It shifts from fluid and soft to jagged and abrasive. It would be easy to imagine that an FKA twigs show would be a disappointment.

An FKA twigs show is not a disappointment.

Her dancing is hypnotizing, her voice sounds great, her band is tight, she's a confident performer, and everything comes together better than you could hope for. If she's just getting started and she's already this good, it's hard to imagine how good she'll be after she gets more experience touring as a solo artist.

While there are all sorts of artists making R&B interesting at the moment, FKA twigs is at the very front of the pack. She's combining truly alternative, boundary pushing production from herself and collaborators like Arca with that beautiful voice of hers, not to mention the sort of melodies that would make Aaliyah proud. It's a heady, unique combination of talents from a true outlier, a lady who is looking likely to blow up without compromising her aesthetic or sound at all.

We've seen a lot of great music videos lately, but FKA twigs is on another level. Her music is slightly challenging, especially to people who are more accustomed to immediate pop hits. She isn't writing straightforward, catchy, hook-centric songs. But if you catch 10 seconds of any of her music videos, like "Water Me," "Papi Pacify," or "Two Weeks," it's impossible not to be intrigued. Whereas some videos just seem like an extension of a musician's image, these feel like true pieces of art.

When you see this on shelves, how are you not going to buy it?

The cover was done by Jesse Kanda, the artist responsible for this awesome/terrifying set of visuals, and it's perfectly in line with the aesthetic that twigs set in motion with her early music videos. Kanda also worked with twigs on the "Water Me" video.

FKA twigs is multi-talented as a singer, dancer, and producer, but she's also a style innovator. Her clothes and impeccable fashion sense are a reflection of her creative personality, and it's a factor that will undoubtedly get twigs a lot of attention outside of the music world as more people begin to take notice. She's not just going to be the new talent that only music writers talk about. It's easy to imagine twigs becoming a cultural icon, on the covers of fashion magazines and in high demand for style collaborations. One clear sign that twigs' style is making an impact: we're already starting to see the imitators (that's Katy Perry.)

[caption id="attachment_421644" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image via dazeddigital.com[/caption]

Young Turks are killing it at the moment. The XL affiliated London label has had a strong 2014 already, with EPs and singles from SBTRKT, Jamie xx, and Sampha, and an album from SBTRKT on the way after FKA twigs' LP1. It's not just the strength of each individual release that is good news for twigs, but also the way Young Turks takes the time to develop and nurture their artists over multiple albums.

The xx and SBTRKT both released their debut albums with Young Turks, and if twigs can continue to follow their path of underground acclaim to mainstream success, she'll be in a great position.

Listen to it in full here, and keep an ear and an eye out for the rise of FKA twigs.