FKA twigs is an English art-pop singer who began releasing music in 2012 with her first two EPs, appropriately titled EP1 and EP2. Quickly following these releases was the 2014 release of her debut album, LP1. With plenty of critical and popular buzz backing her career, Twigs halted her work shortly after this release due to health issues that she publicly discussed at the beginning of this year. Her second LP, Magdalene, was released last week to the eager reception of her long-awaiting fan base.

In St. Paul for a show at the Palace Theatre, FKA twigs stopped by The Current studio to talk with Sean McPherson about some of her artistic decision-making on Magdalene, and the magic surrounding the time she performed at Paisley Park.

Use the audio player above to hear the conversation and read a transcript below.

You're listening to The Current and I'm chatting with FKA Twigs, who is currently on tour supporting her new release, Magdalene. FKA Twigs, thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you for having me.

I am really enjoying this new record and I'm in good company. There's a lot of folks who are really saying raving things about how great this record is, and I wanted to ask a couple questions about your voice on the record. At times it's really clear and unaffected, and then at times it's processed to the point where it sounds like a keyboard, and then it kinda goes in between, and I was thinking about you working on this record, and I was curious. When you're actually putting down the vocals, do you already have it in mind, 'I'm gonna bit this up, I'm gonna work with this', or 'this is gonna be clean'? How much do you know when you're actually tracking the vocal?

On this record I worked a lot with a vocal processing machine called the Helicon, and I found it really helpful as a writing tool, just because with the Helicon it's really cool because you can kind of like affect your voice as you go, so it's almost like a manipulation, like on the spot, and it can bring out different characters. So, say, like in "Home With You," for example, it was really fun going from the more rhythmic rap parts and using the Helicon, and then just turning it straight off and going straight into more of an operatic style. So, yeah, the Helicon, I guess, attributes to the majority of the vocal processing, I think, on this record. It just enabled me to access different parts of myself, and especially to find new cadences. I used it in "Sad Day" as well, in the kind of like post-choruses. It allowed me to access new parts of myself as a songwriter without feeling self-conscious about trying something new. And then often I would end up keeping the original take, or sometimes, even if I had to record the vocals again, I would like track it with the original demo underneath. I did that on Home With You, just so it kept some of the original sort of organic feeling of when we first did it in the studio. So, yeah, it's been fun. I think that I'm always down to trying new things that haven't been done before. I mean, I guess everyone uses auto-tune these days, but I think I just wanted to try a new version of my own auto-tune, like a signature.

You mentioned "Sad Day," and that's one tune that I really connected with right away on the record. The high-pitched tom, when it comes in was unexpected because it's a very patient record in a lot of ways. It takes its time, and you have such beautiful lyrics on a lot of these more spacious beats, so when the driving part of "Sad Day" comes in, it kind of jolted me up, and I got real excited, and it sounded so singular, and like such a vision, that I was surprised to look at the credits and see that it's like an incredible amount of folks who were involved in making that song. So I was trying to understand all the folks that had their hands on the tune, yourself included, Skrillex, etc., it sounds so unified. How did so many people touch something that's so singular?

I think because I make it a really huge point to always be involved in all of the sessions, a lot of the songs that have more credits on them, it's usually because I've taken them to a couple of different studio sessions. For some of them I have just added like, a drum, or something.

Gotcha.

And then sometimes like, say, with "Sad Day," I took it to Skrillex to help me finish, just to find some clarity, and just, you know, tune everything in and get all the beats really precise. And he did an incredible job of that. But I have a very singular vision of what I like, and, you know, I'd like to think that I'm always like leading the session in some way, and yeah, I just know what I like. That's it, really, and I'm not shy to say like, "you know, that will sound great when it's muted."

So, you're like thanks for everything. All I'm gonna be taking is the high-hat you added in bar 14, and otherwise I'll be moving --

Sometimes, yeah, but that's what's so cool. Everyone I work with is so egoless, and I think now people just know what my process is like, and, you know, sometimes it can be a bit long, and people are very patient with me that I work with. I mean, bless Nicholas Jaar for his ongoing patience. You know, he's an angel. But I think I just know what I want, and then some people are just able to help me drive it home, and for me, Skrillex was an important person for "Sad Day" and "Holy Terrain," and Nicholas Jaar was incredible across the whole record, and Benny Blanco — I feel I worked with him on a couple of songs, and he just unlocked something. He unlocked something inside of me that I was able to, I guess, access new parts of myself and not feel self-conscious, even though obviously he's a huge pop producer. Like, it's obvious to say "yeah, just like be yourself." But then that's always easier said than done when you're in the studio with someone that's like got like 1 through 5 of the Billboard charts, and you're like wait, am I supposed to be like writing like a baby-baby-la-la-la chorus? And he was just like, "just be yourself," and I feel that I wrote a couple of my favorite songs with him — "Mary Magdalene" and "Sad Day" — and that's just a testament to the atmosphere he creates. There's lots of incredible people that touched the record, but ultimately it's my baby, and I always say that if the record was really bad, and if no one liked it - people are gonna say FKA Twigs made a horrible record. If the record is really good and everyone likes it, then everyone wants to be a part of it.

I put the floor tom on that one.

Yeah, but that's why it's really important that I make sure I know what I like, because if it's horrible, then I wanna be able to take responsibility for that. I don't wanna feel like "Oh, I didn't do well, and that's because I listened to someone else too much and I got kind of led off my path." If I make music and people aren't feeling it, I wanna be wholly responsible for that.

Your decision making is really courageous on your music and on your videos, and on your presentation live. I just re-watched the Jimmy Fallon performance, and music is about making a lot of decisions, and you make decisions that I think would be hard to explain, hard to justify, but impossible to deny. And I was just trying to understand the end of the video Holy Terrain. You're like last shot, I'm sitting on a bull. Right? I'm sitting on a bull basically naked with body paint on. Is that storyboarded, or were you like 'hey, go grab a bull'? I was trying to understand both the musical decisions and visual presentation decisions. How do you come up with it, and how do you know when it's right?

That's a good question. I mean, I think that, say for something like Fallon, for me, I've been learning pole dancing for a year and a half now, and I was just ready to showcase it in a different light. And it was really interesting, taking off my stripper heels and doing it in bare feet. It just added more of like a balletic feel to the dance, and it made it delicate and tender, and being barefoot onstage, it always adds a layer of vulnerability, and I was really lucky to work with Ed Marlow, who's an incredible designer, for the dress, and Theo Adams, who helps me direct a lot of my live performances, and we're all just kind of like a little collective. I think, at this point, and when we come together and create something, it's almost like we're just beyond words. You know? We're quite like telepathic, so I'll concentrate on my bit, and then Ed will make a stunning dress, and then Theo's there making sure all the production and lighting is all perfect, and, you know, I'm just lucky to have an amazing team that supports all of my ideas. And, yeah, as for the bull at the end "Holy Terrain," that was definitely a very last-minute decision. But let me tell you something, there is nothing like sitting naked on a bull. It was crazy, like I was like wow. I feel like humans, we should be doing this more often, like stark connection with nature and animals and stuff.

Did it just felt like, raw?

It just felt really magical. It felt like, because the bull was obviously there and there was like lights and stuff, and everyone was very like conscious that the bull was distressed. And I was sitting on the bull and then like I felt as soon as I put my hands on its shoulder blades, it just completely calmed down. And I don't know whether it was me putting my hands on its back, or whether it was just chill anyway, but it just felt like we were really connected, and the bull wanted me to get this shot as well. That's all I thought. I was like wow, we're both just so calm in the middle of the desert with all these lights. It felt really magical, and it made me think, you know, as humans, you know, I feel like we need to be in nature more, and talking to animals — and I'm vegan now, so I can't imagine eating an animal — but having that experience of sort of a non-verbal communication. I think a lot of like humans think you can only really have that with a dog or a cat or something, but I have a dog, but, yeah, having it with like a big bull, I was like "oh, wow, it's just the same as a dog, you know." They just wanna be like loved and feel safe.

I don't think you'll be able to walk around your London neighborhood with a bull.

That's right. Yeah, not as a pet, but just to have an understanding, you know.

We play your music on the station a lot, and it presents a unique problem - a pleasant problem - for me as a DJ, which is that I love your music, and a lot of times I have no idea what to put on right after you. If you were DJing, what would you play right after FKA Twigs? We mostly spin "Cellophane" sometimes and "Home With You."

Oh, you put me on the spot. Um, Enya? I don't know.

Okay. "Orinoco Flow"? you'd throw that on?

Then some like Gregorian music. I feel like a Gregorian track remix, so it starts off like Gregorian chants, and then you just take a really popular like trap instrumental and just like blend it in, and then just go into Travis Scott, or something, from there.

I am 100% with you. I love the music you make. I love you taking the time to bring it around the country, and to stop by here and chat. Now, this is your, I believe your second time in Minneapolis, if I'm not mistaken?

Yes.

And the first time in Minneapolis, you not only played a show at the Fine Line, not only stopped by here, but you also performed at Paisley Park. Do you have any memories from your time performing at Paisley Park, or your time in Prince's sphere?

It was just such a magical evening, and, it was one of the most like precious moments of my artistry, I think. People ask me a lot about that, and it's really hard to put into words.

It was magical?

It was incredibly magical, and it was really sacred, and phones weren't allowed; all phones and pictures were banned. I have no pictures, no videos, just kind of really soft, beautiful, real memories. And, you know, Prince was the first record I ever bought when I was twelve, and, even the way that he looks, like I think I always really was drawn to when I was a child, because we have some similarities. It was really interesting, actually, because I danced onstage with him during his set, and I just happened to be wearing, that night, a dress that my mom had given me, and my mom was a huge Prince fan, so I felt like my mom was onstage with me as well. And it was just a really incredible evening, and it'll be, you know, something that I can tell my grandchildren about. And it's very hard to put into words, you know. How do you describe meeting an angel? You can't, really, can you?

Well, yeah, I understand, and it's hard to describe. It's kinda beautiful that so many things that happened at Paisley Park were ephemeral, because they aren't captured. But I appreciate you sharing what you can from that moment. I appreciate you stopping by here. FKA Twigs, thank you for stopping by and chatting with The Current.

Thank you.

Related

• Watch FKA Twigs' new video for 'Home With You'
• FKA twigs performs live in The Current studio