FKA Twigs faces in front of the camera with her finger on the bottom part of her lip. She has a winter coat on as she stands within the city of London. Photo courtesy of Young and Atlantic Records
Singer, songwriter, producer, dancer and actress FKA Twigs released a mixtape titled “Caprisongs” on Jan. 14. The project features artists The Weeknd, Daniel Caesar, Pa Salieu, Shygirl, Rema, Jorja Smith and Unknown T.
The inspiration behind the title of “Caprisongs” is from Twigs’s zodiac sign, Capricorn sun. The mixtape showcases Twigs’s talent to mix her vocals within the tracks and experiment with different sounds. It’s broadly an electronic project, but it includes genres such as afrobeat, dancehall, R&B, trap and pop.
Twigs begins the project with “ride the dragon.” The song starts slow with the first verse, where Twigs introduces to her listeners that she made them a mixtape. The song immediately shifts in the chorus as the beat comes in and the tempo picks up.
The second song, “honda” featuring Salieu, shows Twigs’s first take on afrobeat in the project, but with a darker energy to it. Afrobeat is a genre that combines West African beats with American jazz, soul and funk, according to MasterClass.
Twigs then slows down and get more personal with “meta angel.” She begins the song with a conversation where someone gives her confidence that she will be more free. Twigs then sings about her struggles with negative thoughts and wishes there was an omniscient being that could help her.
“I wish I had help from a deeper force / Some kind of meta angel / Then they could whisper all the answers / And maybe life would just slow down,” Twigs sings. “I’ve got voices in my head / Telling me that I won’t make it far.”
“tears in the club” featuring The Weeknd is the synth R&B-pop lead single released Dec. 16. Twigs sings about trying to get over this relationship while The Weeknd responds to her action in his verse. A scene from the music video shows The Weeknd sitting down crying as he watches Twigs dance in a large fish tank.
Next is the trap song “oh my love.” Twigs sings about having feelings for someone who doesn’t feel the same way, but adds more personality to how she expresses the message.
“Everybody knows that I want your love,” Twigs raps in the post-chorus. “Why you playing, baby boy, what’s up?”
In “lightbeamers,” Twigs peacefully gives self-love advice for people who have been rejected in the past.
“Are you running from your life? / Beat down ’cause there ain’t nobody on your side,” Twigs sings. “Tell yourself you love you so / Lay down your fears, baby, ain’t nobody die from a no.”
The tempo picks back up with the afrobeat-dancehall track, “papi bones” featuring Shygirl. Both Twigs and Shygirl freely express their Capricorn sun energy to the melody of the trumpets.
Twigs continues the afrobeat style on “jealousy” featuring Rema, but with a slower approach.
Next is the slowest song on the mixtape, “careless” featuring Caesar. “careless” is strictly an R&B track about having no worries in a relationship.
Twigs showcases more of her high-pitched opera vocals on “mind of men,” where she sings a poem about making peace with opposing views.
“Lay your troubles down and your heavy crown,” Twigs sings. “Take your troubles off, I’ma love you soft / Let’s make amends with minds of men.”
Twigs invites Jorja Smith and Unknown T on the song “darjeeling” to join her in singing about each of their background stories before becoming artists.
“Started out a country girl, wildly haired and gappy grin / Had to change a couple schools ’cause I wasn’t fittin’ in,” Twigs sings the bridge. “Take it straight to London, dream it big, and let it grow / Just so you know.”
Twigs ends the mixtape with “thank you song,” where she thanks a close relationship for helping her get through a tough time in her life.
“I wanted to die, I’m just being honest / No longer afraid to say it out loud,” Twigs sings in the opening verse. “So, I put my ear on your chest ’til I hear the answer / Love in motion seems to save me now.”
Twigs’ Capricorn sun inspired mixtape shows her ability to mix her vocals and experiment with different sounds, while staying true to her lyrical content. “Caprisongs” is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
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Email Timothy Gay: timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu
