FKA twigs on Drive, Mary Magdalene, and Wushu | Fashion Neurosis

About this video

FKA twigs is a Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter, producer, dancer-choreographer, visual artist and actor. Raised in Gloucestershire, twigs moved to London aged 17 and became embedded in the underground art and club scene. She released her debut EP EP1 in 2012, and breakthrough album LP1 in 2014, establishing herself as a singular creative force who writes, directs, and physically embodies her work. Her subsequent albums Magdalene (2019), Eusexua (2025), and Eusexua Afterglow (2025), melded movement, experimental sound, and cinematic storytelling. In 2022, she became the youngest solo artist ever to receive NME’s “Godlike Genius” Award, recognizing her impact as a boundary-breaking innovator across disciplines. In addition to her musical achievements, twigs has worked as an actor in films including The Crow, The Carpenter’s Son and most recently starred alongside Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel in Mother Mary. This week, it was revealed that twigs will portray Josephine Baker in a new biopic written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré. twigs has graced the covers of Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, Dazed, and i-D, and fronted major campaigns for Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Apple, and Sotheby’s - where her durational performance The Eleven became one of the institution’s most-attended live exhibitions. In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and FKA twigs discuss creating new language inspired by David Cronenberg, shyness versus reservedness, and the difference between dance and doing extraordinary feats with the body. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Chapters: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:23 What are you wearing today? 00:03:25 twigs’ mother and dance 00:07:18 Childhood obsessions 00:10:10 Academic pressure 00:20:42 Poly Styrene 00:25:14 Background dancing 00:33:15 twigs’ name 00:35:58 Shyness v Reservedness 00:37:16 Bodily extremes 00:42:30 Polyvagal theory 00:48:05 Mary Magdalene 00:54:50 Pole dancing 00:57:58 Wushu 01:02:53 Fame and public image 01:10:40 Caring for the body 01:12:30 Rick Owens 01:17:22 If you fancy someone… 01:18:30 Eusexua 01:20:50 Acting and autonomy 01:25:20 Outro