I first heard the ponderous "Water Me" by watching its music video, a work of art all by itself. In it, FKA twigs' beautiful face becomes distorted, enlarged and overwhelmed by intense longing. The song is a careful study in her inability to contain overflowing emotion, as the beat splutters and the bass quakes. Even though the palpable jitteriness in her voice, a clear sign of some inner instability, never relents, her voice nevertheless soars and holds strong. This is not a love she's about to let go, no matter how toxic.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kFtMl-uipA8]
This week, FKA twigs released her second single from the upcomingEP2, "Papi Pacify." This is a more demanding opus, produced by Arca, a great recent collaborator of Kanye West. Here, she begs her lover to clarify their relationship. "Tell me you're the one that I can call, even if you choke" she sings, stuttering over the last phrase with intoxicated, determined desire. This video, another powerful work, shows a relationship that is at once strangely romantic and extremely disconcerting. The visceral power imbalance is one of the most disturbing depictions of love that I have ever seen.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OydK91JjFOw#t=129]
While you wish FKA twigs could escape these tormenting relationships, there's also something so irresistible about the depth of feeling in these songs that it's hard to not slip into her world of glorious, magnificent self-destruction.
Listen to her EP2 on Spotify now -