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When I first listened to English singer FKA twigs’ critically-acclaimed art pop album MAGDALENE, which dropped back in 2019, it did not click with me, though her deeply expressive vocal style and shining personality left a generally positive impression in my mind. I enjoyed the album single cellophane (which has now enjoyed internet relevance again thanks to Miss Piggy and some long-nosed good boys), but that was it. It wasn’t until her next album Caprisongs (which I will review soon, by the way), which dropped in 2022, when I fully boarded the FKA twigs hype train, probably due to the fact that Caprisongs is a far more accessible album within her discography.

And yet, when I stumbled across FKA twigs’ Tiny Desk Concert with NPR, where she performed a rearrangement of home with you, I felt compelled to listen to the original track again, and suddenly the album just clicked with me.

MAGDALENE spans for a modest 9 tracks, but the amount of quality and effort packed into each track is nothing short of impressive. The album is entirely uninterested in being radio-friendly, instead offering a heart-wrenching, theatrical look into twigs’ personal psyche following a breakup from the current emo bat guy and a serious surgery. Each track is unabashedly vulnerable and emotionally honest, and by the end of the album it feels like you’ve also just experienced great heartbreak.

The electronic sound of the album meshes perfectly with the luscious instrumentation and twigs’ ethereal vocals to create a divinely feminine sound, highlighting the feminist themes twigs tries to convey, though apart from the eponymous track “mary magdalene” this theme is rarely explicitly expressed. This is more of a nitpick in anything though, as the overall production and lyrical choices made are otherwise phenomenal.

I also feel compelled to give special credit to the record ‘cellophane’. I fell in love with the track on my first listen, and I still don’t think that is a sufficient articulation for my love of the song. This track is the highlight of this album, and showcases FKA twigs’ massive talent. Combined with the music video (which I recommend everyone experience for themselves as long as you’re alright with some family friendly artsy pole dancing), the album’s closing track acts a sort of a thesis statement for MAGDALENE where twigs laments the end of a relationship as well as finally coming to terms with her loss and pain after all the emotional turmoil of the album.

Give this album a listen if you can!

Best Track(s): “cellophane”, “home with you”, “mirrored heart”

Rating: 9.5/10