Despite the fact that no one can see TikTok will reach a breaking point sooner or later because of its oversaturation (like Abercrombie being “white hot,” only to burn out), everyone wants to cash in on a “good thing” while they can. And since TikTok is equal to “virality” in everyone’s eyes, “the suits that be” in every industry want to get on board the so-called gravy train. The music business being no exception. That said, on May 18th, FKA Twigs posted a tongue-in-cheek story to her Instagram with a TikTok video of an enthusiastic white boy explaining, “How often should you be posting on TikTok? As of right now, you should be posting on TikTok four to five times a day if you wanna go vir–” This cuts off to show a disinterested Twigs on her own meta TikTok account staring into the abyss with the caption, “It’s true all record labels ask for are TikToks and I got told off today for not making enough effort.”
Apart from how gross it is that artists are expected to commodify their work via this newfound form of bastardizing it with little dances and such designed to further decimate any capability of having a sustained attention span, FKA Twigs has already essentially trolled TikTok by making her own version of “that sort of thing” with Caprivids. Stemming from the name of her mixtape, Caprisongs, Twigs defines Caprivids as “a short and punchy music video using a segment of a song. Mini music videos made with limited time and resource.” Indeed, the trolling began with the very first mini music video she made for Caprisongs, “ride the dragon.” Returning to the scene of her youth at the Hackney Town Hall in East London, Twigs joined forces with director Aidan Zamiri to bring the roguish feeling of the video to life. And, maybe after the more production-heavy visuals of “Measure of a Man” and “Tears in the Club” in late 2021, Twigs wanted to take a more no-frills approach to video-making in ’22 (save for “Bliss,” also directed by Zamiri, and a track that she was featured on as part of Yung Lean’s own mixtape, Stardust—perhaps solely as a means to give a nod to “Dilemma” by Nelly and Kelly Rowland by texting Yung Lean on an Excel spreadsheet box).
“ride the dragon” very much provides that “bare-bones” (not “papi bones”) vibe, though it also eased her viewers into the eventual “too shortness” of the videos that would follow (e.g. “darjeeling”) by clocking in at two minutes and forty-seven seconds. As she ascends the steps of the Town Hall with her cohorts, she assures, “Oh just doin’ a TikTok” to the masked security guard that emerges from the building to shoo them away. And Twigs isn’t really lying, for Caprivids are her iteration of that. Moreover, the lyrics, “If you really wanna kiss me/Do it quickly ‘fore the end of the song” are tailor-made for the guerilla-filmmaking style of what she’s doing, especially as she and her dancers keep getting ushered away like vermin or something. All just for doing their art. But as most (namely, artists) are aware, there is no appreciation in this society for such “frivolity.”
But Twigs’ Sagi moon, Pisce veen and Capri sun have all combined to make her ignore any naysaying from those who don’t “get it” (including the suits that just want her to make straightforward TikTok videos specifically for that so-called medium). It is the dichotomy of her Sagi moon and Capri sun that are at play in the video for “meta angel,” which still offers a more placating run time of two minutes and forty-three seconds before Twigs would transition to the more jubliant visuals of “jealousy” featuring Rema. The time increment continues to wane, with Twigs’ TikTok-ready dance moves ceasing at two minutes and thirty-five seconds.
She weaned everyone way off that amount with “darjeeling” featuring Jorja Smith and Unknown T (and sampling from Olive’s “You’re Not Alone”). For it’s arguably the “simplest” in terms of context and, indeed, was one of the first videos that got people to complain about how short the Caprivids are, only for Twigs to, once again, explain that, well, that is the entire point. The fact that she was effectively turning what the TikTok video’s brevity does into true art thusly appeared lost on most. Pulling a pint in a pub and then serving it to an old man, Twigs then dives into some choreo-heavy arm gestures that even give Madonna’s in the “Frozen” video a run for their money (funnily enough, Madonna was just pictured with Twigs, after also dancing to “papi bones” at a Burberry party, so there’s that connection made more concrete). After serving up blasé attitude in addition to drinks (the pub being among one of many quotidian English tableaus Twigs is so fond of showcasing), Twigs returns to waiting by the bar for her next order.
And the next order fans got served was “papi bones” featuring Shygirl. Which provides one minute and fifty-four seconds of Twigs mostly flashing her ass as she feigns riding a motorcycle within the confines of a flat that looks decidedly garden variety, save for the little goat running around as a reminder of the Capricorn motif that pervades every track. And it’s one of the three that appear in the narrative as Twigs and Shygirl then take a pair of baby goats out for a walk in strollers with the “mama goat” accompanying. Though the goats don’t make it to the nail salon with Twigs in the Caprivid for “oh my love,” wherein “acetone induced hallucinations” (per Zamiri’s description) ensue thanks to the vivid color palettes that anyone would expect in a salon setting… made to appear in a karaoke backdrop video. And that’s precisely what “oh my love” looks like, particularly with the words to the lyrics etched out onscreen as Twigs sings them. Additionally, there’s the presence of her friends’ narrations—kind of like what Ari did on thank u, next with the intro to “bloodline” that featured her grandma, Marjorie, and the one to “in my head” that featured a voicemail from Doug Middlebrook.
For Twigs, on “oh my love,” that person is Suzannah Pettigrew at the beginning and Abigail Sakari during the outro. It is the latter who imparts the wisdom, “Nah, but seriously, on a level, you’re beautiful. We’ve not got a long time here, so love yourself, know your worth and fuck crying over these stupid boys that don’t even recognise the worth in themselves. Just tryna steal your youth. Bye, byyyyyye! But I love you and, um, I wish you could see in you what I see in you, what everyone sees in you, because… that’s the golden stuff right there and these are your golden years, so… have fun.”
Twigs certainly seems to take that advice to heart in the Caprivid for “honda” featuring Pa Salieu. For, of the behind-the-scenes footage for making it, Twigs declared, “I always have fuuuun.” As the most stunt-driven (no pun intended) Caprivid, that could very well be why it’s another particularly short affair at one minute, twenty-one seconds. All while Twigs twerks in her own special way on what we’re supposed to believe is a motorcycle (instead of the elaborate rig set up to make it seem that way). And as she closes her eyes and directs her head up to the sky, we have to ask, “Bish, did you learn nothing from Meg Ryan’s fate in City of Angels?”
Luckily, we see her live to tell in another Caprivid vignette, specifically “which way” featuring Dystopia. This might have a more notable “production value,” too, in that it was filmed in both London and L.A. Twigs is also filmed in what has become the signature “Caprisongs hat” from the album cover, getting on an elevator as the same tactic from “oh my love” is employed in terms of having certain phrases from the song written out on the screen so as to emphasize them to the viewer. This includes the opening spoken portion from Dystopia: “This is like the perfect music to think… It’s like elevator music but you’re going to the fiftieth floor. Made me realize I have no thoughts though…” And yet, sometimes having a “blank slate” brain can help one to make an unencumbered decision. Like, for example, “which way to go.” And as we see Twigs bolt out of the referred-to elevator, it’s liberating to see her not really think about where she’s running to. All that matters is the feeling that it’s right.
The denouement to this truly groundbreaking series of videos—especially when taken together as a whole—is a slow jam that speaks to this very philosophy. Called “thank you song,” it also serves as the finale to Caprisongs, thus it’s only right for it to close out the Caprivids collection. It also provides a full-circle moment in that it’s even longer than the first Caprivid we saw, coming in at three minutes and thirty-one seconds. Therefore, a “bona fide” music video. And yet, it maintains the same simplicity as the concepts that came before it, with Twigs waiting at a bus stop at night and boarding an empty vessel (that overtly reads: “Not In Service”) perhaps intended to mirror her own emptiness at the height of her lowest point. One that prompts her to admit during the intro lyrics, “I wanted to die/I’m just bein’ honest.” A phrase that kind of reminds one of John Bender in The Breakfast Club saying, “I’m being honest, asshole. I would expect you to know the difference.”
Sung in harmony with Arca, the sentiments of the song harken back to what FKA Twigs addresses on “meta angel” in terms of wanting to have some unseen force protect and guide her through the dark times. Expressly stating that she imagines these “creatures” as mythical beings, that’s the portrayal we’re given in the form of a hulking fellow passenger behind her who soon sits next to Twigs and lets her rest her head on his shoulder. Sometimes that’s all a girl needs to feel comforted. And sometimes, that’s all a viewer needs to see to feel the same.
And so, as one of her backup dancers shouts at the beginning of “ride the dragon,” “Not Twigs givin’ everyyyyyythaaaaang!” Because yes, that is precisely what she has done in carving out her own version of TikTok through her innovative and enchanting Caprivids that always leave you wanting more. So please, Record Labels At Large, stop giving her or any other artist shit about not posting enough “content” to go “viral.”
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Below is the complete list of Caprivids (choosing to count “Tears in the Club” as a “right proper” conventional music video) and the dates they were released in ’22:
January 13: “ride the dragon”
January 19: “meta angel”
January 26: “jealousy” featuring Rema
February 25: “darjeeling” featuring Jorja Smith and Unknown T
April 14: “papi bones” featuring Shygirl
April 19: “oh my love”
April 22: “honda” featuring Pa Salieu
April 25: “which way” featuring Dystopia
May 4: “thank you song”
