FKA twigs has released the video for her MAGDALENE song “Sad Day.” The short film was directed by Hiro Murai, known for his work with Donald Glover on Atlanta and Guava Island, as well as his videos for Earl Sweatshirt and others; this is his first music video since directing Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.” In the six-minute video, twigs engages in sword combat with Tweake, a dancer she cast via social media; the pair zip around empty London streets before a finale that veers into surrealism. Watch it happen below.
“Everything I’ve previously done with my body, all the training and dancing, has led to this point,” says twigs in a press release. Her swordsmanship is the result of three years’ training in the art of Wushu under the guidance of Master Wu of the Shaolin Wushu Centre, the release notes.
twigs recently joined 645AR for a track called “Sum Bout U.” Earlier in the year, she collaborated with Ty Dolla $ign and Nicolas Jaar.
Read Pitchfork’s feature “The Sacred and Profane Genius of FKA twigs,” which follows twigs during her rehearsals for the “Sad Day” music video.