Reflecting a year on from Caprisongs, FKA Twigs had returned on this day last year with a box full of treasure. The mixtape dips its toe into a plethora of genres, pulling different elements from various sounds here and there to create one of her best works. It’s accompanied by FKA Twigs and her friends gushing about the unrequited love of their youth and a lot of these moments feel immersed into the beats and this can be especially heard on 'track girl interlude'. Many artists these days have used voice notes of some kind in their music but it truly feels like FKA Twigs and her producers have really been able to make the fragments of conversation mesh into the music. “I made you a mixtape” in FKA Twigs' enchanting voice is such an enticing way to begin this journey she goes through.
Caprisongs feels like an amusement park, each song a different ride. Her collaborators sat are always sat in the seat next to her, never behind. In 'honda (feat. pa salieu)' and 'papi bones (feat. shygirl)', there are glorious moments that feel like a game of tennis between both Pa Salieu and Shygirl and FKA Twigs, where they’re bouncing back and forth between each other which indicates that they’ve enjoyed working, not just with eachother, but together. 'darjeeling' teaches her listeners to expect the unexpected because who would’ve thought we’d get a drill track from FKA Twigs? Unknown T was the perfect drill artist to enlist for this song and Jorja Smith's lyricism has been adapted outside of her realm to compliment the lyrics FKA Twigs laid down. 'jealousy' with Rema furthers the exploration in range as she taps into Afrobeats with a song that invites you onto the dance floor. 'tears in the club (feat. the weeknd)' and 'careless (feat. daniel caesar)' pull from pop and R&B respectively - what she's shown us in previous albums has allowed her to slide on these tracks with ease. Moving onto her solo songs, the chorus on 'oh my love' unlocks adolescence and memories of unrequited love, not just in the lyrics but also in the way she belts out the pining lyrics "Everybody knows that I want your love / Why you playin', baby boy, what's up?" which resonates with many. 'thank you song' is a shift in emotions to conclude the tape is something you don’t quite expect, giving it a somber ending.
FKA Twigs can write any lyric and however she decides to bring those words to life, sonically, it’s always going to be phenomenal. The peculiarness in her lyrics is so tailored to her and if it were anybody else it wouldn’t have been as widely received. She’s also mastered the craft of genre-bending and has demonstrated so well how she can pull from an amalgamation of genres and make each song her own. We're waiting on her next album which we hope is coming out this year, but we'll be spinning Caprisongs to tide us over until then.
Review written by Kat Friar