FKA Twigs Dances for Inmate on Death Row in Creepy New Clip

Prior to FKA Twigs’ success as a solo artist, she worked as a dancer in other artists’ videos. Now, she’s come full circle, starring in her own videos – that are undoubtedly several times more f*&cked up than any of the stuff she was in the background for. The 26 year old experimental priestess directly references her own history in her new clip for Video Girl, a track off her recent LP1 release (sings Twigs in the song: "is she the girl from the video?"). The video is shot in black and white and has a sombre mood that perfectly matches Twigs' ethereal, twisted R&B - it features FKA dancing for a prisoner on death row – she writhes around him sexily, and jerks her body in the corner, as he is laid out on his back, and a euthanasia injection is being pumped through his veins.

The clip is more suggestive than fixed in terms of its narrative – FKA could potentially be a figment of his imagination, his last ditch attempt at conjuring up the sexual pleasures of life before being plunged into eternal darkness? The clip has some incredible phrasing juxtapositions – at times the camera shakes and the lights flicker and the screen is grainy, flashing between Twigs in metal cyborg jewelry and a guy with blood in his mouth, at other times the chaos quietens for stillness and gentle, slow-moving shots over bodies and faces.

FKA tapped Kahlil Joseph to direct the clip, the LA filmmaker behind Until The Quiet Comes - a short, evocative film created in conjunction with FlyLo’s excellent album of the same name. The film received widespread critical acclaim and won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Films at Sundance in 2012. Joseph’s also behind the clip for Shabazz Palaces’ Black Up, and a short film based on Kendrick Lamar’s debut good kid, m.A.A.d. city. “Everything Joseph touches seems to swell with meaning”, said FADER Mag earlier this year of Joseph’s work. FKA is tapped by bookies to take home a win for LP1 at next week's Mercury Prize Awards. 

Watch Video Girl here: