In a font that looks like it was ripped directly from The Carpenters’ band logo, FKA Twigs presents to us Caprisongs, a seventeen-track mixtape in the spirit of something Blood Orange or Jhené Aiko would serve (hear: Sailing Soul[s]). Timed for a release just three days before her January 17th birthday (incidentally, what would have also marked Betty White’s one hundredth year), Caprisongs feels like a true celebration of the Capricorn drive for success (half the word is even in the title, after all).
Commencing with “Ride the Dragon,” FKA Twigs immediately parades her winking, flirty side with the intro, “Hey, I made you a mixtape” (oh, if only people still actually did). She then highlights some of her Capricorn qualities with the lines, “I’m still that mysterious bitch (play ooh-là-là, très chic)/No one does it like I do.” As such, it can get lonely out here for a Cap. Ambitious and mercurial, often cold yet desiring of true love.
Her suggestive urging, “Ride the dragon” seems to be to herself as she also notes, “‘Cause I’ve been waiting for a minute/Waiting for an hour, now it’s getting long.” She even echoes the Justin Timberlake sentiment of “Rock Your Body” when she says, “So if you really wanna kiss me/Do it quickly ‘fore the end of the song.” The lament of “feeling pretty with nobody to get on” also smacks of the interior monologue of the braggadocious Capricorn.
With just over two years having passed since her second full-length album, Magdalene, was released, Caprisongs is in direct contrast to the highly somber mood of that particular record. Though it isn’t to say that FKA averts sadness in her lyrics, it’s just that there’s a more jubilant backing track to them. Plus, she’s not always alone to rehash her tales of woe—she has plenty of company to help her sing along.
The carefree tone of “Ride the Dragon” gives way to the moody, tribal and visceral “Honda” featuring Pa Salieu. Produced by El Guincho, AoD and Felix Joseph, the siren-like voice of FKA Twigs lures us in during the refrain, “One of a, one of a, one of a kind/From sunlight to moonshine, you’ll always be mine/They don’t understand like we do.” Understand like who? Capricorns? For those not versed in the parlance of the British, her repetition of, “Baby, we can smoke it on the M way” means motorway. A.k.a. freeway. Keeping it ghetto fab in her Honda. Yet she also speaks to the Capricorn knack for making that “sweet” money with the lyrics, “Feel it when you move your body, control your body/Go back-to-back, baby got an eye for money.” At least she’s not a corporate asshole who has an eye for it, one supposes (though there was that Burberry commercial).
And maybe that’s because of the “Sagi Moon” and “Pisce [yes, said with no “s”] Veen” she calls out at the opening of “Meta Angel”—all adding up to her “Capri Sun.” As in: her sun sign. Yet it’s surely her Pisces rising that must give such emotionalism to every song she writes, as well as her clear belief in the zodiac—for it is atypical of the average Capricorn to surrender so freely to the so-called “hooey” of astrology. But no, Twigs believes not only in how “the universe is so powerful”—as the dialogue intro indicates—but also in the potential for some kind of divine guidance. Hence, her admission, “I wish I had help from a deeper force/Some kind of meta angel/Then they could whisper all the answers/And maybe life would just slow down/I don’t think that I’ll make it on my own.” Clearly, she must not have. Perhaps referring to her conscience or to some Joan of Arc-level shit, Twigs also repeats several times, “I’ve got voices in my head.” Its a capella-esque tone at times reminds one of the sonic stylings of both MARINA and Tove Lo.
The lead single of Caprisongs, as well as its proverbial “sad girl banger,” is “Tears in the Club” featuring The Weeknd. And it is precisely because The Weeknd is a long-time believer in Cirkut that Twigs collaborates with him as a producer for this song, in addition to Arca. On “Oh My Love” (not to be confused with The Beatles crooning, “Oh my love/Because the world is round”), Twigs accuses the object of her affection of not reciprocating her ardor equitably as she rues, “You wanna waste the day, I wanna spend the night/When our rhythm be runaway, I wanna make it right/You’re just pushing me, pushing me/Pulling me, pulling me.” Then, to confirm the spectral presence of Lauryn Hill on this album, she adds, “Killing me, killing me/Softly, softly.”
What’s more, she would like to remind, “I could be with anyone I’m fussy like a pussy cat/You’re the only one I want/Give love and then you take it back/Won’t the kisses all be fun?/I hate it when you give me half/Never give me half.” That’s exactly right. A Capricorn needs all.
The outro concludes, “Nah, but seriously, on a level, you’re beautiful. We’ve not got a long time here, so love yourself, know your worth, an’ fuck crying over these stupid boys that don’t even recognize the worth in themselves. Just tryna steal your youth. Then, in true Beyoncé fashion, she determines that Twigs should say, “Bye, bye.” This interlude is one of many that speaks to what FKA announced regarding the making of the album, explaining, “I started recording my friends talking and weaved it through the mixtape like a narrative of my healing. Having such wonderful people around me to laugh with made me feel lucky. If you are lonely or feel isolated or void of encouragement by your immediate circle you can borrow my friends on the mixtape.” There’s no doubt that many will. What’s more, it’s sort of like that moment on “in my head” when Ariana Grande uses tour director and friend Doug Middlebrook’s message to get her own across. There is deliberateness to where the dialogue is placed within the context of a song to fortify its meaning.
The pace ramps up on “Pamplemousse,” a brief ditty that also serves as a nod to the La Croix flavor as Twigs recites, “You know you love it.” She also throws in something of a non sequitur by including a snippet that acknowledges a still-unreleased track she did with Dua Lipa during Studio 2054, prompting a fan to plea, “Okay, Twigs I know everyone probably annoys you about this but that song with Dua Lipa, ‘Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore’—when are you gonna release it? I’m tired of listening to it on loop. Listen, when it came out, I was goin’ through a breakup. I used to walk around Paris, with it on repeat, for this song. We need it to be released, please, Twigs, come on. Make my wish come true.”
No mixtape’s auditory aura would be complete without an interlude like “Caprisongs Interlude” featuring Solo. A filler that leads in as easily to “Lightbeamers” as “Chromatica II” does into “911.” This particular song is a more existential one as FKA asks sympathetically, “Are you running from your life?/Beat down ’cause there ain’t anybody on your side?” How did she know? Like damn, is she staring into everyone’s soul? Giving advice akin to what was said at the end of “Oh My Love,” she advises, “When it hurts you like this, again/Don—don’t do it again/Don—don’t do it again/Pretty and sad/Did you give yourself away again?/Don’t, don—don’t do it again.” Clearly, she’s been spying on women everywhere to know that this is, indeed, the case—and that, despite her sound counsel, they probably will do it again and give themselves away for very little in return. Concluding with the line, “Pretty and sad,” FKA mirrors the lyrics Lana once said when she admitted, “‘Cause I’m pretty when I cry.” But it doesn’t mean that one should. Especially over some fuckboy. Or worse still, a softboy.
What follows is the more fanciful “Papi Bones” featuring Shygirl, with dancehall stylings that would surely make Rihanna proud. And maybe make Drake sue for using the words “champagne” and “papi” in the lyrics (albeit detached from one another). Showcasing some of the simpler lyrical offerings on the record, Twigs and Shygirl keep us focused on the rhythm as they sing, “Truth stay/Vibe never realer/Got that Capri sun energy [said like energia]/There’s a grind up on your area, ah/Let’s start it again/Boom, boom take us when you can’t find the ones, yeah/Everybody wants to send out for my love.” And, in contrast to Madonna saying, “Slow down, papi” on “Medellín,” this song demands, “Don’t stop, don’t stop/Papi, papi, don’t stop/Don’t stop, don’t stop.”
“Which Way” featuring Dystopia (best stage name ever?) is a whimsical number that switches tone toward the end. But Twigs’ siren-like “da-da-di-da-da-da-da” throughout keeps the gentle capriciousness going. It is Dystopia who sets the mood for being lost in life when she reflects, “When I was walkin’ through thе London city lights I met the devil, but he stared at me and said ‘You’re going the wrong way.’” Mighty kind of Lucifer to say so.
Elsewhere, Twigs might be reflecting on her backup dancer days when she says, “One, two, three, hey I had a good job and I left/I had a good job and I left I left because I thought it was right.” And yeah, it was. ‘Cause look at her now—a rock star. In fact, that’s how the song ends, with the dialogue, “There’s the whole ‘I want to be a rock star’s girlfriend.’ ‘Rockstar’s girlfriend?’ ‘I’m the rock star, not my boyfriend. I’m not the rock star’s girlfriend, I am the rock star girlfriend. Do you get what I mean? The girlfriend who is a rock star. Like, I’m not the accessory to the rock star, I’m the rock star.’” Point taken.
“Jealousy” wields a feature from Rema to counteract Twigs’ feelings of doubt as he rebuffs her insecurities with lines like, “Girly, take it easy, take it slow/You follow me everywhere that I go/I gave you the keys to my soul/Now you still don’t believe, baby, I know (I know)/Girl, I’m sick and tired of your drama/Don’t let me take you back to your mama/Twenty missed calls ’cause I’m not home/What you gonna do, only God knows.” He also adds later on, “Jealousy you put on me/You’re in your feelings way too deep (why you wanna do me like that?).” Call it the Capricorn way. Or shit, maybe every sign’s way.
Even though “Jealousy” is a song about the green-eyed monster, it’s much more playful than the slowed down and serious “Careless” featuring Daniel Caesar. Twigs laments, “You can be careless/You can be careless/You can be careless with me,” also accusing, “You say you can’t decide but I’m just trying to put you where you want/You got to make your mind up somehow/Take me now.” Or else, she’s gonna move on.
Although one might have assumed “Measure of a Man” would be on this mixtape, the listener will have no issue taking “Minds of Men” as a substitute. Easily the most innuendo-laden of Caprisongs, Twigs sweetly sings, “When he’s inside, a man’s a boy, he’s all alone/You will know when he’s inside/Give him your love and don’t deny.” Perhaps what she’s saying is that men need all the love they can get from a woman in order to prevent them from turning into violent incels. Thus, she also commands, “Be the shoulder where he cries.” The poetry of the song is almost wasted on the likes of this gender as Twigs promises, “Love and death is compound/I am yours tonight.” And, suggestive as ever, Twigs also describes, “Weave with my body, bathe in my sea.” She might be giving men too much of a benefit of the doubt when she concludes, “Many minds of men do the best they can/We don’t want to fight, let me take your hand/Just lay your worries down.” However, she doesn’t let them get off so easy by reminding, “Know it’s a woman’s world.” Which, again, harkens back to a Beyoncé moment with the question-and-answer chorus, “Who run the world? Girls.”
Veering toward The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill territory with “Track Girl Interlude,” various voices reflect on attraction, as one person remarks, “I have to be sexually attracted to you though—that’s like, a massive deal.” At least someone in the present can finally admit that out loud as we all pretend, even in this society of plastic surgery trigger happiness, “looks don’t matter.” Another exchange goes: “Were you dating someone proper? No, it was like, really complicated, like everything I get into it’s—nothing’s ever easy.” Truly though.
Sampling lyrics from a classic yet underrated 90s jam from Olive called “You’re Not Alone,” “Darjeeling” featuring Jorja Smith and Unknown T opens with, “You’re not alone/I’ll wait ’til the end of time/Open your mind/Surely it’s plain to see.” The tempo then picks up for FKA to sing/semi-rap, “Hit OT, a track superstar/Crystal Palace, brap-brap-brap/Linford Christie Stadium/Every Tuesday, flaggin’ the boy/Athletes lowkey cappin’ a lot/Croydon College, stackin’ at one/Love so big, I give him my all East or South, we’re dreamin’ it all.” Both Smith and Unknown T contribute their unique vocals to heighten the tension and motif of the song, which speaks largely to leaving the countryside for the big city and enduring the loneliness of that for the sake of “hitting the big time.” As Twigs puts it, “And I, I was just gettin’ to know myself/The city had broke me in/Inside, dialin’ my confidence up/About my hair and my skin, yeah.”
Not allowing us to forget the astrology motif, the “Christi Interlude” is a brief reading regarding Twigs’ chart and how being born on a New Moon gives her such optimistic energy. It’s all enough to make her whisper, once again, “Sagi Moon, Pisce Veen, mmm, Capri Sun.” At this point, the drink brand should really give her a cut of their profits (if any are still left).
Standing apart from the rest thanks to being the only other track to be produced by Arca besides “Tears in the Club,” “Thank You Song” cuts right to the chase with the announcement, “I wanted to die, I’m just being honest/No longer afraid to say it out loud.” The a capella vibe gives way to a swelling of music and shared vocals between FKA Twigs and Arca that remind one of the sonic stylings of Imogen Heap on “Hide and Seek.” As a thank you song to a lover who has remained at her side (or perhaps to anyone who might have ever shown a depressed person even the slightest amount of kindness or attention), the duo croons, “Love in motion, my heart’s open/Thank you, thank you, I’m okay/‘Cause you care, I made it through today.” It’s certainly more meaningful than that repetitious bullshit Natalie Merchant was saying on “Kind & Generous” (Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U” is cool though).
Of choosing to release something that’s very personal once more, Twigs explained that, “Caprisongs is my journey back to myself through my amazing collaborators and friends. It felt so daunting knowing that I had to heal in front of the world, I hated the idea of it but there was a tipping point where I knew I could get this project out and it would make me feel better and it really has.” So it has for the rest of us as well. Especially in a month as usually banal as January.
