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FKA Twigs

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— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

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FKA Twigs

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  • FKA Twigs chose the first three letters of her stage name for how they sounded, not for what they meant. Many listeners assumed FKA stood for "formerly known as". She has said in multiple interviews that it does not. Her own explanation was blunt: "I just wanted a selection of letters that sounded quite kind of masculine and strong."

    The woman behind the name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, an English singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and dancer. She resists tidy labels in much the same way her name resists a tidy origin. So how did a scholarship pupil from an English spa town become an artist who sings, directs and choreographs in the same breath? Why did critics struggle to agree on what genre she even belongs to? And what happens when a career this public collides with illness, lawsuits and an appearance before a United States Senate subcommittee?

  • Tahliah Debrett Barnett was born on the 17th of January 1988 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. She was the only child of an English mother, who worked as a dancer and gymnast, and a Jamaican father who was a musician. On her mother's side she also has Spanish ancestry.

    A stepfather she called a "jazz fanatic of Bajan descent" helped her mother raise her. She did not meet her biological father until she was 18. Cheltenham itself she described as "kind of in the middle of nowhere".

    St Edward's School, a private Catholic school for boys and girls, paid for her education through a scholarship. From a young age she took opera and ballet lessons, and she joined several school productions.

    At age 16, Barnett started making music in youth clubs. At 17 she moved to South London to pursue dancing and enrolled at the BRIT School. At 18 she began working with local producers, searching for a sound of her own. Around then she wrote the song "I'm Your Doll" and made what she calls "really bad demos". She later moved her focus from dance to music and transferred to Croydon College to study fine art.

    Barnett also worked as a backup dancer in videos for Kylie Minogue, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, Taio Cruz, Dionne Bromfield, Jessie J and Wretch 32. She danced in Jessie J's 2010 video for "Do It like a Dude" and returned for the 2011 video for "Price Tag". For a time she worked as a hostess in a strip club, and she sang now and then at the Box Soho in Soho, City of Westminster.

    A photograph taken for the cover of i-D magazine in 2012 was about to change how the public saw her.

  • In 2012, i-D magazine photographed Barnett for its cover, and the nickname Twigs began to travel with her. She had earned it because her joints crack. The letters FKA came later, after another act called the Twigs, twin sisters who had been recording since 1994, asked her to change her stage name.

    On the 4th of December 2012, Barnett released her music debut, EP1, herself on Bandcamp. She posted a video for every song on her YouTube channel, so each track arrived with its own pictures.

    August 2013 brought the video for her first single, "Water Me", directed by Jesse Kanda. That same month The Guardian featured her in its "New Band of the Day" column, calling her "the UK's best example to date of ethereal, twisted R&B".

    In September 2013 the Young Turks label released her second EP, EP2, which Barnett produced with Arca. Pitchfork gave it 8/10. By December she had been nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2014 prize, chosen for Spotify's Spotlight on 2014 list and named on Billboard's list of 14 Artists to Watch in 2014. The year they all pointed to would bring her first album.

  • In April 2014, Barnett appeared on the cover of The Fader, the magazine's 91st issue. She had begun writing her first studio album during a stretch of "self-hatred", which she considers "quite normal" for a young person. On the 24th of June she released the lead single, "Two Weeks", with a video, and "Pendulum" followed on the 29th of July.

    LP1 arrived on the 6th of August 2014 through Young Turks, to widespread critical acclaim. Time said she had "made that transition to one of the most compelling and complex acts in R&B". Time and Clash both later ranked it the number one album of the year. It reached number 16 on the UK Albums Chart and number 30 on the US Billboard 200, and in September it was named a nominee for the Mercury Prize.

    A world tour opened on the 2nd of October 2014 at The Dome in Brighton, East Sussex. It ended on the 3rd of December at The Social in Orlando, Florida. In September she played the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland, and on the 4th of November she made her US television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The third and last single, "Video Girl", came out in October.

    On the 20th of August 2014, Barnett uploaded three videos she had directed. One was "Wet Wipez", starring the London dance crew of the same name. Another was "tw-ache", a remix of the EP1 song "Ache". The third was for "Ouch Ouch" by the rapper Lucki Eck$, a track she produced and in whose video she also appeared. That month she also signed with the London production company Academy Films, and in October she directed an advert for Google Glass.

    Producer Boots announced in 2014 that he was working with her on a third EP. In February 2015 at the Roundhouse in Camden, she performed Congregata, a theatrical "coming together" that visualised "the story of my life while making this album". On the 23rd of March 2015 the video for "Glass & Patron", the first song from the EP, appeared on her YouTube channel, directed by Barnett.

    In an interview released in June 2015, Barnett told Complex she had changed the EP's title to Melissa. It was released in 2015 as M3LL155X, with five tracks: "Glass & Patron", "Mothercreep", "I'm Your Doll", "Figure 8" and "In Time". Four videos accompanied it, all directed by Barnett, featuring pregnancy, sex dolls, vogueing and Michèle Lamy.

    Soundtrack 7, a seven-day residency at the Manchester International Festival, took place in July 2015. The song "Good to Love" premiered there. The dance film Soundtrack 7, which Barnett directed, was created, performed and filmed on site across those seven days, and it premiered in 2016. She performed "Good to Love" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on the 24th of February. She also directed, narrated and starred in a television ad for Nike, and danced in Apple's advertisement for the HomePod.

    On the 9th of July 2016, Barnett debuted a new stage show, Radiant Me², at the Lastochka Festival in Moscow, where she unveiled three songs nobody had heard.

  • In 2018, Barnett appeared on the track "Fukk Sleep" from ASAP Rocky's album Testing. Her own return after a four-year hiatus began on the 24th of April 2019 with the single "Cellophane".

    In September 2019 she announced that her second album would be called Magdalene and that it was co-produced with Nicolas Jaar, among others. The second single, "Holy Terrain", featuring Future, came out on the 9th of September. On the 7th of October she released "Home with You" and announced that the album would be delayed until the 8th of November. "Sad Day" followed on the 4th of November.

    Magdalene appeared in November 2019 to universal critical acclaim. The A.V. Club, Clash, Now and Time each placed it first on their year-end lists, and seven more lists put it in the top five. The same day, the film Honey Boy, in which Barnett played Shy Girl, had its commercial premiere. Reviews for the film were positive.

    In 2020, Barnett appeared in an OnlyFans-inspired video for "Sum Bout U" with the rapper 645AR. The video for "Sad Day", directed by Hiro Murai, premiered on the 28th of August. It earned four nominations at the 2020 UK Music Video Awards and won for best cinematography.

    During a virtual chat for the Grammy Museum in October 2020, she said she was "just finishing" a new album. She had made it largely with the Spanish musician and producer el Guincho, and many other collaborators whom she first met through FaceTime calls. In November, Dua Lipa invited her to guest on the live stream concert Studio 2054, where the two teased a collaboration titled "Why Don't You Love Me".

    On the 25th of January 2021, Barnett announced the single "Don't Judge Me", featuring the rapper Headie One and the producer Fred Again. It came out the next day with a video she co-directed with Emmanuel Adjei. The same day, on a podcast with Louis Theroux, she said: "It was all via the internet... I have more collaborations and features on this album than I ever had before."

    In February 2021 she called the album a "going out" record and said it would feature the Nigerian Afrobeats musician Rema and the British rapper Pa Salieu. Speaking with the actress and screenwriter Michaela Coel, she revealed she had changed the original title because a well-known artist had given it to a non-musical project. In May she told Vogue the album had no release date, though she hoped for the northern summer of 2021. In July 2021 she directed the video for Koreless's single "White Picket Fence".

    Barnett joined the FKA Twigs Discord server in September 2021 and confirmed the project was a mixtape. She named el Guincho, Koreless and Arca as producers, along with the American hip-hop producer Mike Dean and the Canadian pop producer Cirkut.

    In November 2021, "Measure of a Man", featuring the British rapper Central Cee, appeared on the soundtrack of the film The King's Man. "Tears in the Club", featuring the Weeknd, followed on the 16th of December. It was her first release under Atlantic Records and the lead single from the mixtape Caprisongs, released on the 14th of January 2022. Guests on it included Pa Salieu, Daniel Caesar, Rema, Jorja Smith, Unknown T, Dystopia and Shygirl.

    In March 2022, she received the Godlike Genius award at the BandLab NME Awards, where she performed "Meta Angel" and "Tears in the Club". In April she also appeared on the Swedish rapper Yung Lean's album Stardust, the same artist she had teased on Instagram months earlier.

  • In June 2022, Barnett released the single "Killer", which she said was about "the risks that you take for love". She added that "the effects of heart break can define one's trajectory much more than the beauty of the love itself". She debuted it live during an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Its video, directed by Yoann Lemoine and released on the 20th of July 2022, shows Barnett performing choreography with Arón Piper on a beach in Portugal.

    On the 14th of September 2023, at Vogue World: London 2023, Barnett sang a cover of Opus III's "It's a Fine Day". Cara Delevingne joined her on stage and she kissed her, and members of the Rambert Dance Company performed with them. On the 1st of October she introduced "Unearth Her", a new song with Koreless, during the Valentino Spring/Summer 2024 show at Paris Fashion Week.

    On the 15th of October 2023, Barnett announced in a series of Instagram stories that eighty-five of her demo tracks had leaked. She declared there would be "no new music for a while", which postponed her third studio album.

    In January 2024, the UK Advertising Standards Authority banned a Calvin Klein advertisement showing her semi-nude, saying it framed her as a "stereotypical sexual object". Barnett defended the ad and said she was "proud of her physicality". By March 2024 the authority had lifted the ban. It cited the views of Barnett and the public and its own "concern that our rationale for banning the ad was substantially flawed".

    The title track of the third album, Eusexua, was released on the 13th of September 2024. "Perfect Stranger" followed on the 17th of October as the second single. A third single, "Drums of Death", arrived on the 14th of November with Koreless. Its highly choreographed video is set in an office.

    The lead single from the next album, Eusexua: Afterglow, was "Cheap Hotel", released on the 26th of September 2025. The second single, "Predictable Girl", came out on the 11th of November 2025 with a video starring Barnett and Shivawn Joubert, directed by Jordan Hemingway. Eusexua: Afterglow was released on the 14th of November 2025 through Young and Atlantic Records. A video for the track "Hard", also directed by Hemingway, appeared the same day.

    At the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, Eusexua won Best Dance/Electronic Album. She toured for the album with the Eusexua Tour in 2025, and a Body High Tour is listed for 2026.

  • Barnett sings in a soprano range, and critics routinely call her music "genre-bending". It draws on electronic music, R&B, trip hop, choral music, industrial and the avant-garde, and her songs and videos weave in elements of afrofuturism.

    Pitchfork writer Philip Sherburne compared the breathy vocals and electronic production on LP1 to Ciara, the Weeknd and Beyoncé. The Wall Street Journal called her "an heir to futuristic R&B muses like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott and others under the progressive sway of producer Timbaland". Variety described her music as "darkly avant-garde, aggressive and atmospheric" and likened LP1 and Magdalene to a cross between Billie Holiday and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Slate heard "melismatic falsetto over beats that are equal parts spooky and soothing".

    Other writers reached for Tricky, Kate Bush, Janet Jackson, the xx, Massive Attack and Madonna. In 2020, The New York Times saw her turning her avant-garde ambitions and technical skill toward pain and insecurity, comparing her to Janelle Monáe, Fiona Apple, Solange and Lana Del Rey. Simon Critchley placed her beside David Bowie for the way she plays with fame and shifting personae.

    Barnett has her own view of the labels. "I am not restricted by any musical genre," she said, adding that she likes to incorporate everyday sounds such as a car alarm. She has rejected the R&B tag as a response to her race. "It's just because I'm mixed race," she said, and noted that comments about her first releases changed once her photograph appeared. She pointed out that her song "Preface" is like a hymn. "But you're not talking about that because I'm a mixed-race girl from south London."

    The first singers to shape her were Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Marvin Gaye. When she began writing songs, she said, "every bit of music that I made sounded like a pastiche of Siouxsie and the Banshees or Adam Ant. But through that I discovered myself." After the 2014 Mercury Prize shortlist, she named Germfree Adolescents by X-Ray Spex as her favourite album of all time.

  • Barnett's screen work runs alongside her music. She played the Swordswoman in the 2020 short film Sad Day and Shelly Webster in the 2024 film The Crow. In 2025 she played The Mother in The Carpenter's Son. A 2026 film, Mother Mary, in which she plays Imogen M, is listed as in post-production. In 2022 she appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

    In December 2017, Barnett had surgery to remove fibroid tumours from her uterus. She described living with the condition as "living with a fruit bowl of pain every day" and praised the bravery of other women who live with it. In 2020 she adopted a vegan diet after learning that animal products were likely worsening her symptoms.

    Barnett began dating the English actor Robert Pattinson in 2014, and the two became engaged before parting in mid-2017. After the relationship became public, she condemned racist comments that she said were posted on her Twitter profile. In September 2014 she said she felt "genuinely shocked and disgusted at the amount of racism that has been infecting my Twitter account".

    She met the American actor Shia LaBeouf on the set of Honey Boy, and they dated from mid-2018 to mid-2019. In December 2020 she filed a lawsuit against him at Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing him of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress. In his response, LaBeouf said he had been "abusive" to himself and those around him "for years" and was "ashamed" and "sorry to those he hurt". He later denied all of her allegations. The case was expected to go to trial in September 2025, but a joint settlement came in July 2025, and lawyers said its details would stay confidential.

    From 2020 to 2022, Barnett was with the English musician Matty Healy of the band The 1975. She sang background vocals on the band's song "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)", and the relationship inspired Healy to write "I'm in Love with You". As of 2023, she is in a relationship with the director and photographer Jordan Hemingway.

    Barnett's activism has taken several forms. In 2022 she signed the Musicians For Palestine pledge, refusing to perform in Israel. She promoted a campaign by Sistah Space urging people to lobby their local MP to back Valerie's Law, which would bring mandatory police training on domestic abuse against Black women and girls. In July 2024 she performed at the Artists for Aid Benefit Concert in London, which raised funds for the Gaza Strip and Sudan.

    In April 2024, Barnett testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. She called for regulations on deepfakes and artificial intelligence.

Updated

Common questions

What does FKA stand for in FKA Twigs?

FKA does not stand for anything. Tahliah Debrett Barnett has said in multiple interviews that she simply wanted letters that sounded masculine and strong.

Why is FKA Twigs called Twigs?

She became known as Twigs because of the way her joints crack. She added the letters FKA after another act called the Twigs, twin sisters recording since 1994, asked her to change her stage name.

Where was FKA Twigs born and what is her real name?

FKA Twigs was born Tahliah Debrett Barnett on the 17th of January 1988 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. She is the only child of an English mother who was a dancer and gymnast and a Jamaican father who was a musician.

What albums has FKA Twigs released?

FKA Twigs has released the studio albums LP1 in 2014, Magdalene in 2019, and Eusexua and Eusexua: Afterglow in 2025. She also released the mixtape Caprisongs on the 14th of January 2022.

Did FKA Twigs win a Grammy for Eusexua?

Yes. At the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, Eusexua received the award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

How did FKA Twigs start her career as a dancer and musician?

She moved to South London at 17 to pursue dancing and enrolled at the BRIT School. She worked as a backup dancer in videos for artists including Jessie J, then self-released EP1 on Bandcamp on the 4th of December 2012.

What did FKA Twigs say to the United States Senate in 2024?

In April 2024, FKA Twigs testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. She called for regulations on deepfakes and artificial intelligence.

All sources

138 references cited across the entry

  1. 1FKA twigs has made a zine and you can see it hereAnna Cafolla — 13 January 2017
  2. 5FKA twigsCarrie Battan — August 2013
  3. 10MagazineFKA Twigs Has Reached New HeightsEmily J. Lordi — 19 October 2020
  4. 11FKA TwigsCourtney Sanders — 20 August 2014
  5. 13NewsFKA Twigs: 'Weird things can be sexy'Ben Beaumont-Thomas — Guardian Media Group — 9 August 2014
  6. 14NewsFKA Twigs: 'I'm appealing to people who want something different'Tom Lamont — Guardian Media Group — 30 November 2014
  7. 15MagazineThe Sacred and Profane Genius of FKA TwigsOwen Myers — Condé Nast — 22 October 2019
  8. 16FKA Twigs BiographyHeather Phares
  9. 18Interviews: FKA twigsCarrie Battan — 22 July 2014
  10. 20Video : FKA Twigs "Water Me"praythemusic.com — 16 December 2013
  11. 21FKA twigs on InstagramFKA twigs — 4 August 2020
  12. 22Bleach Hair SalonBleach London
  13. 28FKA twigs – Water MeYouTube — 1 August 2013
  14. 29FKA twigs – "Water Me" VideoStereogum — August 2013
  15. 30New band of the day (FKA twigs 1,569)Paul Lester — 6 August 2013
  16. 31FKA twigs – EP2 / Young TurksTheyoungturks.co.uk — 17 September 2013
  17. 35Magazine14 Artists to Watch in 201413 January 2014
  18. 36FKA Twigs: Power PlayEmilie Friedlander — The Fader — 22 April 2014
  19. 38FKA twigs Announces Debut Album LP1Evan Minsker — 9 June 2014
  20. 40NewsFKA Twigs Announces World TourJulia Copestick — 13 August 2014
  21. 48NewsFKA Twigs, Roundhouse, review: 'frustrating'Alice Vincent — 20 February 2015
  22. 49FKA twigs New Song "Good to Love" Debuts With Sensual VideoZoe Camp — Pitchfork — 18 February 2016
  23. 50FKA twigsF. K. A. twigs
  24. 52MagazineFKA Debuts New Music in Russia: WatchColin Stutz — 11 July 2016
  25. 53Watch FKA twigs' New Film Soundtrack 7Noah Yoo — 13 December 2016
  26. 54FKA twigs22 June 2018
  27. 58how losing everything saved fka twigsFrankie Dunn — 2 September 2019
  28. 59FKA twigs Shares Video for New Song "Home With You": WatchEvan Minkser et al. — 7 October 2019
  29. 61Magazine645AR enlists FKA twigs for "Sum Bout U"Sajae Elder — 4 August 2020
  30. 67Grounded with Louis Theroux – 19. FKA twigsLouis Theroux — BBC Radio 4 — 25 January 2021
  31. 68'It's A Miracle I Came Out Alive'Marjon Carlos — 17 February 2021
  32. 69MagazineJoyride: the renaissance of FKA twigsMichaela Coel — 24 February 2021
  33. 70Here's Why Summer 2021 Belongs To FKA TwigsJulia Hobbs — 18 May 2021
  34. 78NewsFKA twigs Premieres New Song "Killer" on BBC Radio 1Toshio Maeoka — 17 June 2022
  35. 80FKA twigs Shares New Video for "Killer"Rob Arcand — 20 July 2022
  36. 85NewsBan on Calvin Klein's FKA twigs ad revoked after ASA climbdownMabel Banfield-Nwachi — 5 March 2024
  37. 94FKA twigs Shares New "Hard" VideoJazz Monroe — 2025-11-17
  38. 96NewsFKA TWIGS – LP1 // ALBUM REVIEWGeorge O'Brien — 13 August 2014
  39. 100JournalAnd So Shaped The WorldSheree Renée Thomas — 2016
  40. 102Rising: FKA twigsCarrie Battan — 2013-08-01
  41. 103FKA twigs: EUSEXUARich Juzwiak
  42. 107A guide to FKA Twigs, Music's New 'It Girl'Lockett, Dee — 11 August 2014
  43. 108JournalBackpages 26.2 Lazarus, Bowie, and Eros: Simon CritchleyCaridad Svich — 2 April 2016
  44. 111Interview: Young Turks' FKA twigsRuth Saxelby — 25 September 2013
  45. 112FKA twigs Q&A - 2014 Mercury PrizeYouTube — 15 September 2014
  46. 116The Status of RelationshipsSally Anne Gross et al. — University of Westminster Press — 2020
  47. 120NewsShia LaBeouf denies assault allegations in lawsuit filed by ex FKA twigsSamantha Kubota et al. — 11 February 2021
  48. 125MagazineSong You Need to Know: The 1975, 'If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)'Brittany Spanos — 28 April 2020
  49. 136FKA Twigs Begins Shoot as Josephine Baker in Studiocanal Biopic (EXCLUSIVE)Naman Ramachandran et al. — September 8, 2026

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