FKA Twigs’ 'Magdalene' is Worth the Wait
by Kenneth Cox
In a painting dating back to 1835, artist Alexander Ivanov depicts the moment at which biblical figure Mary Magdalene reaches out to Jesus, only to be denied, as a physical, and perhaps emotional, gap divides the two. In the English translation of Ivanov’s work, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. It is in these moments of ceasing connection, of bonds breaking apart in an instant, that FKA Twigs’ long-awaited second LP Magdalene dwells.
Five years since the release of her last album, FKA Twigs has grown from being an enigmatic, mysterious figure in music to one of it’s most prolific stars. She’s been internationally lauded for her experimental combination of electronic music and R&B. Twigs also found herself thrust into the public eye with her relationship and engagement to actor Robert Pattinson, which broke apart in 2017 amidst a storm of media attention and tabloid gossip. After remaining silent for years about her relationship, FKA Twigs’ Magdalene details these events with devastating, profuse detail. As a result, it is perhaps Twigs’ finest work to date — showcasing her singular lyrical, vocal, and production talents in ways that push her work into incredible new territory.
Magdalene begins its story of loss, pain, and recovery with “Thousand Eyes”. Layering her voice across several intervals, Twigs turns herself into a one-woman chamber chorus, documenting the inciting moments that lead to the dissolution of her relationship. “If I walk out the door it starts our last goodbye” sings Twigs, freezing the moment, looping it, and seeking to find a moment of clarity within it. “It’s gonna be cold with all those eyes” she sings late in the track, and moments later, her voice freezes and crystallizes, combining with the icy wind of solitude that consumes her. It’s a goosebump-raising opener, overwhelming in its emotion, and sets the tone for an incredible album to come.
Along with the pain of losing her love, Magdalene also tracks the breakdown and recovery of Twigs’ body after having six fibroid tumors removed in December 2017. Tracks like “Home With You” dwell on the loss of Twigs’ confidence felt in the wake of her surgery. “Apples, cherries, pain/Breathe out, breathe in, pain/No, no novocaine” sings Twigs, recalling the “fruit bowl of pain” that left her hospitalized for weeks. As an accomplished dancer, reliant on her bodily health, “Home With You” captures Twigs in a moment where one of the vital tools of her art lies in jeopardy, and uncertainty about her recovery looms. This anxiety about her body combines with the loneliness of her crumbling relationship, joining together glitching electronic beats with lush, symphonic instrumentation to make a track that is utterly heartbreaking in both its lyrics and sound.
The record shines most when Twigs delves into some of the most experimental work she has created thus far. “Fallen Alien,” one of the album’s many standout tracks, brings Twigs to a practically operatic level of vocal delivery and musical arrangement. Combining speaker-shattering beats, wailing synths, and her own towering voice, Twigs lays her resentment and indignation on the table, detailing the betrayal and lies that filled her relationship. “When you fall asleep, I’ll kick you down/By the way you fell I know you/See you’re grey from all the lies you tell” sings Twigs, her voice taking on a sneering tone that blazes a wildfire across the track.
But it’s not just these moments of fury that push Twigs into new directions. “Mirrored Heart” finds Twigs at a level of vulnerability rarely seen in her already affecting discography. It is a lament for her shattered relationship with her voice laying bare amidst piano and occasional electronic flourishes. Crushing in its honesty, Twigs admits to herself that the pain resulting from her relationship will last and that it was a pairing doomed from the start. “I’m never gonna give up/Though I’ll probably think about you all the time/And for the lovers who found a mirrored heart/They just remind me I’m without you”
These simultaneous expressions of grief, isolation, and heartbreak over her relationships with herself and others manifest themselves as a deep depression that Twigs sinks into, which she explores on the late-album highlight “Daybed.” A foggy, somber ballad, Twigs submerges her listeners into the throes of her mental state, capturing the numbness and apathy. “Tired of my resistance/Smothered is my distance, yeah/Careful are my footsteps/Possessive is my daybed” sings Twigs. The singer’s striking lyrics capture depression with a precision few artists have, creating one of Magdalene’s most complex, arresting tracks.
Magdalene culminates in what might be FKA Twigs’ finest track to date — “Cellophane.” Released this past April, the song brings Magdalene to a close by asking the central question on Twigs’ mind “Didn’t I do it for you?” Pulling her voice from it’s lowest depths to impossible heights, the track builds up to a devastating conclusion that brings her entire journey into vivid focus. Already a stunning track on its own, ‘Cellophane” bursts with even more catharsis and power when contextualized within the album. “They’re waiting, and hoping, I’m not enough” sings Twigs over a hushed, solitary piano. But after nine brilliantly realized, heart-wrenching tracks, Twigs proves she's more than enough, making the album’s denouement take on a new tone of hope, even if resentment and heartache remain in the background.
The past five years may have felt like a lifetime for FKA Twigs, but Magdalene charts the return of an artist unafraid to hold anything back, creating an album that proves she is a once-in-a-generation talent. Pain, grief, and loss may define the album, but, as she does at the end of her music video for “Cellophane,” FKA Twigs sits up from the mud and dirt, ready to take on all that has befallen her.