Earlier than FKA Twigs may talk about her upcoming album, “Afterglow,” she wanted a matcha.
The British singer-songwriter had first answered a Zoom name from the backseat of a dimly lit automotive in New York, the place she confessed to operating on “2% character.” She defined that she had flown in that morning from London and had spent the day selling her upcoming film, “The Carpenter’s Son,” a biblical horror co-starring Nicolas Cage.
Fortunately, only some minutes into the interview, the singer born Tahliah Debrett Barnett noticed a well-recognized matcha spot arising on her route. In a split-second choice, she runs into the cafe, anticipating a caffeine enhance, and orders all the things matcha she may get her arms on — a sizzling lavender matcha latte, a matcha tender serve and matcha-flavored pudding.
“Oh, we’re gonna be buzzing,” mentioned Twigs, who laughs a bit about how she hasn’t eaten a lot that day and determined to solely devour matcha desserts. After making it again to the automotive and indulging in a couple of sips, she declares, “It seems like I’ve my character again. That was fairly an genuine expertise.”
With a revived glint in her eyes, she was able to debrief “Afterglow,” the surprising continuation of her third studio album, “Eusexua.” The 37-year-old singer launched “Eusexua” in January as each the namesake of her report and a time period she coined to explain a transcendent state of being.
Now, lower than a yr later and set to be launched the identical day as “The Carpenter’s Son,” her newest album is supposed to “fantastically unravel” the questions of humanity she presents on “Eusexua.”
From the beginning, she says, she knew that “Eusexua” was one thing greater than a singular album — equating it to an period. Impressed by Prague’s underground rave tradition, the report itself is centered round life’s purest experiences. Over tattered drum and bass patterns, retro-futuristic crescendos and ephemeral melodies, Twigs makes an attempt to bottle the best way dance music makes her really feel. Lyrically, she embraces a childlike marvel, shares her vulnerabilities and indulges in candy nothings — all with the intention of capturing what it means to be an individual.
The place “Eusexua” is “the hen’s eye view of the human expertise,” Twigs says, “Afterglow” is supposed to seize humanity by means of a extra direct lens, the place emotions are unfiltered and instantaneous. Altering this viewpoint was one thing that got here to her with ease.
“Typically while you’re creating one thing, it feels such as you’re rubbing towards one thing otherwise you’re pushing one thing uphill. However with this venture, it didn’t really feel like that. It was flowing naturally,” mentioned Twigs.
Most of “Afterglow” was made post-“Eusexua” from the consolation of her residence studio in Hackney, London. Regardless of “Eusexua’s” profitable launch, she couldn’t shake the sensation of nonetheless having extra to provide.
“I can’t clarify it. Typically you place out an album, after which it seems like it’s worthwhile to cease for some time,” mentioned Twigs. “However with ‘Eusexua,’ it felt prefer it was nonetheless rising. The message was nonetheless spreading, and other people nonetheless wished a deeper understanding of what it was.”
For over a decade, Twigs has been identified to cushion her albums with a couple of years between every launch. Her debut, “LP1,” launched in 2014, was adopted by “Magdalene” in 2019 and “Eusexua” in 2025. She additionally launched a mixtape, known as “Caprisongs,” in 2022. On every venture, she bears a brand new facet to herself, usually diving headfirst into the depths of her id, love life and womanhood. Uncovering uncooked feelings, like loss, lust and jealousy, she’s capable of seize their complexities by means of erratic rhythms, unorthodox mechanics and a trance-like ambiance.
FKA Twigs performs at Camp Flog Gnaw in November 2019.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
Earlier than changing into a musician, she discovered success at an early age as an expert dancer. In her late teenagers and early 20s, she appeared as a dancer in music movies for artists like Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Kylie Minogue. To at the present time, she depends on dancing and bodily motion as an important a part of how she understands music.
“While you dance, it’s actually good to know the principles and the basics, like with ballet. However as soon as you understand ballet, then you possibly can mess it up and let go. You’ll be able to dance with extra freedom,” mentioned Twigs, in between bites of her matcha pudding. “That’s sort of what ‘Afterglow’ is. It’s ‘Eusexua,’ but it surely’s wild, sensual and irresistible. It’s meant to quench a thirst.”
Since she’d laid out the groundwork together with her earlier launch, she approached its follow-up with a carefree sense of freedom. The 11-track album is supposed to be an idea album of kinds, detailing the aftermath of an evening out. From the sensation of recent air after leaving a sweaty dance ground to the drunken temptations of texting an ex-lover and the inevitable rush of not wanting the evening to finish, Twigs proves she has the “afters” right down to a components.
Leaning right into a barely much less alien soundscape than the one heard on “Eusexua,” the singer indulges in a masterful type of digital edging — by no means going the predictable route. On songs like “Slushy” and “Predictable Lady,” she intertwines a menagerie of robotic, spacey sirens with tinges of Jersey membership beats and ’90s-influenced R&B chords. Whereas on equally hypnotic tracks like “Low cost Resort” and “Sushi,” she instructions the heavily-layered soundscape with an intoxicating sense of recklessness.
“Typically I am going out to reset my mind a bit bit. Clearly, I like what I achieve this a lot. I like being an artist. However generally, it simply will get unnecessarily traumatic,” explains Twigs, who touches on the problems of fame with the observe “Wild and Alone,” alongside fellow British pop music innovator PinkPantheress.
“So once I exit, it makes me put all the things into perspective and notice what’s actually vital in my life, who I wish to be and who I wish to be round.”
Powered by these realizations, she’ll proceed to lose herself in foggy nightclub dance flooring, plenty of sweaty our bodies and blinding strobe lights. However she says, in the case of making artwork, there’s one factor she’ll by no means lose sight of.
The one factor that may have an effect on her artistic output, she says, is “whether or not you’re telling the reality or not, and the way sincere you’re being.”
