British R&B songstress succeeds in first NYC stop on her world tour

There’s nothing like fighting for space on the floor of Terminal 5 while soulful electronic/R&B is seeping out of the speakers. An artist apparently capable of selling out NY venues within minutes of tickets going on sale, British singer/songwriter/producer/director/dancer FKA twigs proved to all in attendance why she’s worth the money last night with a truly enchanting performance that was worth the shoulder-to-shoulder viewing.

It’s not like she hasn’t earned her top billing status and legions of fans. The many achievements of Tahliah Debrett Barnett stretch as far back as 2005, when she began doing backup dancing for pop artists the likes of Kylie Minogue and Taio Cruz. twigs (so named because of the cracking sounds that her joints made), first burst onto the music scene in 2012 when she released her first music project, EP1, on Soundcloud. Both it and EP2, released in September of 2013 by label Young Turks, were accompanied by videos for each song, the most popular of which had to be the video for “Water Me.“ At this point, twigs’ entrancing blend of R&B/electronic music provided enough incentive to launch her debut full-length, LP1, for which she’s currently touring.

Even though I came to this show with knowledge of her unique visual style and “Two Weeks“ stuck in my head just like everyone else, I still had no idea what to expect from her live. I pondered to myself while opening act and newly blossoming producer Boots kicked off the night with a set of smooth guitar tracks. Boots, known as one of the main producers behind Beyoncé‘s latest album, is another up and comer who’s worked with twigs in the past and he erred his purpose as a fun palette cleanser before twigs took the stage.

When she did come out, the entire audience (myself included) was caught under her spell. Draped in a floral robe, twigs proceeded to sing and dance her way into everyone’s hearts. She and her backing band (who she loving introduced a third of the way through the set) had great chemistry, effortlessly weaving in and out of each other’s rhythms. They covered all the basics from EP2 (“Water Me”,”Papi Pacify”) and almost the entirety of LP1 (“Lights On”, “Pendulum”, “Two Weeks”). The entire crowd was crying in unison when twigs started singing “Two Weeks.“ Her star, propelled forward by her hypnotic R&B/electronic mix, will only continue to rise as she continues to tour around the world. She’s her own tough act to follow on Monday, November 10th at Warsaw in Brooklyn.

Is Two Weeks really that great of a song? Yes. Yes it is. (@Rastaman0318)