We need to talk about one of the best albums released this year — Magdalene by FKA twigs. You guys… This is excellence. Let’s get into it! She started off with “Cellophane” being her first single release in THREE (3!!) years (it dropped in April 2019)! This song showed just how strong the vocal abilities and production were going to be on this album. The music video was also pure excellence, picking her up a Grammy nomination for best music video.
For FKA twigs, this era focused on religious imagery (I mean, the title of the record is Magdalene). This concept, tied with ideas around femininity and loss of a relationship, worked to give us an amazing album. My favorite song off the album is “Home With You” — this song highlighted twigs’ range of talent and her ability to blend genres into one song. Not to mention the music video was absolutely INSANE — going from a club to running down a hill to a ritualistic dance, she took you with her on a whole journey.
FKA twigs sings in such an ethereal way — sometimes you don’t know what she’s singing about, but you always get the raw emotion behind the song. She combines Gregorian chants, electronic sounds, and dreamy vocals to come up with a completely unique sound. To me, this shows just how much of an artist she is. Being able to understand what is going on in someone else’s head is often the point of music, but all too often songs seem ‘emotionally unavailable’. Being able to connect to this album was so refreshing because I got a glimpse into someone else’s most vulnerable state and was able to immediately connect to that and empathize with them.
John’s Favorite Song off the Album: “Home With You” / “Mirrored Heart”
John’s Least Favorite Song off the Album: “Sad Day”
Rating: Five out of Five Stars
Overall, while short (only nine songs), this album was expertly crafted. You can tell that FKA twigs puts everything into her art and will accept nothing less than perfection. Her avant-garde pop style might put some people off because it’s not what they’re used to hearing — but even if you don’t personally like it, you do have to admit it is very well done. Furthermore, she released an extension to the album with some additional visuals on Spotify, which just adds to the story. Be sure to check out her Genius ‘behind the lyrics’ video as well to see that she CAN, in fact, hit those notes.