It's a been a minute since FKA twigs caught our eyes and ears with the release of her 2014 debut LP1. Since then, the British singer has managed to keep a relatively low profile, with her last popping up on our radar when she appeared in an Apple commercial dancing to Anderson .Paak's "'Til It's Over." She's now back in a big way with the release of her single "Cellophane" and its trippy new video.
"Cellophane" is a haunting, quiet meditation on a love that doesn't seem to be working in her favor. "Didn't I do it for you? / Why don't I do it for you? / Why don't you do it for me? / When all I do is for you?" she sings at the song's beginning while backed by only a melancholy piano. It builds from there as her lament builds in strength and sound. She captures the sentiment of the song like only she can in the track's Andrew Thomas Huang-directed visual. She first appears in the clip as a dancer alone on a stage. As she begins pole dancing in sky-high silver platform stilettos, she ascends higher until she's net by a flying creature with her face. Kicking at the creature sends her into a graceful freefall that lands her not-so gracefully in red mud. What appears to be worshipers then come out to cover her completely in the clay before she sits up to deliver one last longing glance into the camera.
"Cellophane" is an impressive showing from FKA twigs, stripping back her usual electronic production to give and allowing us to hear her voice and the song's vulnerable lyrics. The video is also impressive, especially when you learn that she only took up pole dancing a year ago just so she could do it in the visual for the song. While we might not always "get" where she's going with her visuals, she almost always makes too beautiful and intriguing to look away. We have a feeling there will be more of that when her second album arrives in the near future.
