In a new interview with Ebro Darden on his Beats 1 radio show, FKA Twigs has revealed that the FKA in her name does not in fact stand for “formerly known as.”
“FKA Twigs — ‘Formerly Known As’ Twigs, right? — there was like a controversy thing,” Darden said. But Twigs corrected the host: “It doesn’t really mean ‘Formerly Known As.’ I was called Twigs, there was somebody else who had that name, and I had to make a quick decision to change it. I just thought ‘FKA’ sounded cool.” It totally does.
Elsewhere in the interview, the Gloucestershire-raised performer revealed her unusual start in music, after Darden asserted that she’s “pretty hip-hop.” “When my mom asked me if I wanted to do a hobby, I said I wanted to do opera lessons,” she explained. From the age of about 12 until she was 15, “My mom would drive me for like an hour and a half to this lady called Dorothy and she lived in a bungalow in the middle of nowhere… and she’d play the piano to me and I’d learn songs in Latin with her, and that was my singings lessons — that’s what I wanted to do.”
Twigs also spoke about her soon to be released project Soundtrack 7, a 30 minute film that she created during a seven night residency at Manchester International Festival last summer. “I wanted to see how much feeling I could create with no specific costume… no props, so just very simple, flesh and white, nothing distracting,” she said, explaining that she wanted to discover, “How much atmosphere can you create if it’s a love triangle? How much atmosphere can you create if it’s a story about a boy being sucked into gang life? … if it’s a story about not being able to make up your mind, in terms of sexuality or intimacy? … How can you create that with no props, no costume, no make-up, just a stage.”
“I’m really into atmosphere, I’m really into mood,” she continued, adding, “I don’t think I’m the best producer, I don’t think I’m the best singer, I don’t think I’m the best director, but I know that one of my talents is just capturing a feeling.” Check out the the full interview below.
Credits
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