EDITORIAL
FKA twigs
During Afropunk Atlanta, the artist confides in her fans that she has lost her voice due to tonsillitis, but still delivers an outstanding performance.
sidewalkkilla
FKA twigs was the headliner for the first day of Afropunk Atlanta on October 12, 2019. The dancer-turned-singer rose to fame shortly after launching a series of creative music videos back in 2013. FKA twigs started learning pole-dancing a year before the release of “Cellophane,” the first music video off her upcoming second full-length album Magdalene, where she masterfully shows off her pole-dancing skills with seeming ease. In an interview for WeTransfer’s WEPRESENT, the artist confessed that pole dancing was one of the hardest things she’s ever done.
FKA twigs came out on stage wearing a large feather hat à la Marie Antoinette, 10 minutes after her allotted performance time, with a microphone in hand, sans any fanfare. In a low raspy voice she announced to the concert-goers that on the way to Atlanta, she lost her voice due to tonsillitis. Half the crowd audibly gasped, terrified that the pole installed earlier at the back of the stage wouldn’t see any action, while the other half uttered concern for the singer’s well-being. But no one lost complete hope, as the stage was all set to go and the performer was all dressed and looking ready to slay.
“Today I had two options,”
she went on to say.
“I felt I could either not come, because I really, genuinely have no voice, or I thought I could come and I could be here with you. The angels have my voice right now, but I have other skills – I can dance. So I decided to do that, and I hope that you are happy with that decision. This is very wild for me, but I’m gonna leave it all on stage and thank you for accepting me the way I am tonight.”
“That’s fine!,”
a girl from the audience screamed.
“We’ll take anything!”
– someone else added to that.
FKA started off her set lip-syncing to her first single “Water Me.“ Right after that song she inquired if there was anyone in the audience that could sing.
“Come on, be confident. You can do it, come on”
– she urged in a low, shy voice.
Someone volunteered their friend and the girl was ushered to the stage. FKA’s single “Pendulum” started playing and the volunteer was joined by one of the backup dancers who accompanied the girl with backing vocals, while FKA joined the rest of the group in the role of a backup dancer herself. There were several girls in the audience joking about the girl who just performed in front of thousands of people, bragging about performing with FKA twigs to her grandchildren.
Some time towards the end of her set, twigs did a quick stint on the pole, sending the crowd into a hysterical frenzy. The last song of the night twigs performed was “Cellophane.” The performer asked the crowd to help her sing the song live, and she performed beautifully, no matter the “missing” voice. After the song was over, FKA announced that she would be hosting a “13 Whore Moon Ceremony” with Queen Afua “outside tonight” and was hoping to see everyone there.
“Where?! Where?!”
was all you could hear from everyone around.
It didn’t take long for them to find out, as bright luminescent lights lit up in the middle of the crowd and FKA joined Queen Afua for a healing moon dance “for all virgin whores in celebration of the feminine divine.” The announcement about the ceremony came in the form of an Instagram Story that twigs posted on the day of the performance.
Alexey Kim
Founder
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EDITORIAL