Music/Features

Sound: R&B and hip-hop sensibilities dance with celestial art-pop harps and harmonies
If you like: Caroline Polachek, Jean Deaux, Solange
Why you should listen: Known for her extraterrestrial-sent, meticulous avant-garde pop, Twigs comes down to Earth with this relaxed, experimental mixtape named for her Capricorn sun sign. Cooing in her signature mystical soprano, she also embraces afrobeats, voice note interludes and rap bars.
Best track: darjeeling (ft. jorja smith & unknown t)

Since the release of her critically acclaimed album Magdalene in 2019, avant-garde songstress FKA Twigs hasn’t had an easy go of things. She has spent much of the past three years embroiled in an abusive relationship and the legal proceedings that followed it — she publicly ended things with ex Shia LaBeouf in 2021, suing him for years of physical and emotional abuse.

As the news became public, sources close to Twigs revealed that they felt they’d seen her lose herself during the relationship — the magnetic, creative rockstar had become introverted, reclusive, exhausted. If those stories are true, we see her find herself again in her new mixtape, Caprisongs.

The record is named for her Capricorn sun, an astrological placement that indicates maturity, assertiveness and, above all, independence. It’s clear as day that she’s in the driver’s seat now, and she intends to stay there. Caprisongs is fun, adventurous, and full of life; Twigs’s signature airy falsetto soars like a flute between intimate voice memos, experimental styling and an eclectic list of collaborations. Her superpower has always been her incredible versatility, and it’s put to full effect here: She speak-sings like a defiant pop girl, trills like a supernatural woodland faerie and drops into candid voice memo interludes like your favourite SoundCloud rapper. She draws inspiration from afrobeats, 2000s pop, choral arrangements, fan comments and everything in between.

FKA Twigs, with her unforgettable voice, unparalleled direction, and incomparable catalogue, has already established herself as one of the greatest creative powerhouses in the game right now. Caprisongs is a victory lap: The fun she’s having with this record is clear in every glitchy pop riff and tongue-in-cheek interlude. She’s relishing in this newfound control and thriving in it as well.

Watch the Jealousy music video