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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
MAGDALENE is as holistically complete as any pop record released this decade ... an exceptional and empowering account of an artist in full control of their sound.
100
By processing the physical and emotional pain she's experienced, FKA twigs’ new album MAGDALENE operates as a purging of all her heartbreak.
100
It is erotic and neurotic, confounding and revelatory, summoning the spirits of such iconoclastic talents as David Bowie, Kate Bush and Björk while affirming its own unique personality.
100
Tahliah Barnett's been to tabloid hell and back and experienced gruelling ill-health, all of which is explored on her huge, panoramic second album.
100
Magdalene goes beyond earthy boundaries and transcends to a celestial realm of greatness, guided by the “fallen alien” – FKA twigs.
100
It’s a record that makes you fall in love with music again, a record you feel privileged to experience and a record that imparts fundamental human truths.
100
Magdalene is an album that, like FKA twigs herself, defies both genre and classification.
100
94
With limitlessly innovative songwriting and production, the cinema of twigs’ music has never been more affecting. MAGDALENE is not just on the vanguard of pop, it’s in a breathtaking class of its own.
90
It is an unsparing, anguished release in which we see an artist laid bare and tapping into a more natural and resonant version of her sound and self. It is the fullest and most developed work from FKA Twigs to date.
90
In portrait mode, Magdalene tears down the metaphorical walls — aurally, visually, physically — to build back up a wholly realized self.
90
The album is a knotty meditation on the process of separating self-perception from public perception, and of twigs’s reclamation of her body and work as hers and hers alone.
90
Magdalene makes an unpredictable turn wherein FKA twigs traverses an introverted dimension of her vision through a minimalist perspective and a sense of controlled extravagance.
90
Directly contrasting the cohesion of her previous releases, the veritable tapestry of sounds woven into MAGDALENE is among the album’s most rewarding assets.
90
Like the dancer she is, Barnett pushes through pain in pursuit of beauty and truth, and the leaps she makes are breathtaking.
90
MAGDALENE dances along without ever dipping into easy catharsis, consumed with pain but unwavering in its determination to fight through it.
90
To put Magdalene in context, it’s clear that FKA Twigs has created her best album so far. It combines the addicting complexity of M3LL155X’s production aesthetics with the more elaborate and thoughtful songwriting of LP1.
90
MAGDALENE is the album that twigs was destined to create. That such a blessing came out of so much trauma is a tragedy, but what a privilege it is to witness such a miraculous period of growth.
87
MAGDALENE is the sound of an artist gluing together the million tiny shards in which she found herself after an explosive breakup.
85
Never rushed yet often urgent, MAGDALENE is a work of great tension and balance. It never falls into complacency, and it’s never indulgent.
80
The sound of someone delicately yet decisively knitting themselves back together...
80
The follow-up to 2014’s LP1, made in the wake of heartbreak, is twigs at her sorrowful, scrappy best.
80
MAGDALENE might not be perfect, but it reverberates with the sound of someone shutting the door on a difficult chapter in their life.
80
Sometimes, there is the feeling that less could have been more, but when everything aligns, there are true moments of wonder to be found.
80
UK pop futurist conjures struggle while curating a killer creative team.
80
The inner battles of Magdalene will stay with you long after they finish.
80
With this gorgeous, gripping, thought-provoking album, she continues her enigmatic, glass ceiling-smashing trajectory thanks to some spectacular vocal performances and updating the sonic templates left to her by her forebears.
75
While concise in length, MAGDALENE paces FKA twigs through the unguarding of her traumas, ceremoniously giving way for her next act.
70
For all its impassioned vocal performances and effective updates on the forms of Kate Bush and Björk, Magdalene isn't quite greater than the sum of its parts.
60
Sometimes the results are stunning ... Sometimes, however, the songs are weirdly stifling.
fka twigs more like rip wig
It has been 3 whole years since FKA Twigs has given us any new music, leaving us with the out of control, futuristic M3LL155X, which was definitely her best work. But Magdalene comes out and it is like the 21st century Homogenic. Both are innovative, beautiful, and have great production. Anyway, the first song 'thousand eyes' is such an impressive opener for this album, it's very peaceful at some parts and get all the way to rock-bottom in some parts. It sounds like ... read more
It has been 3 whole years since FKA Twigs has given us any new music, leaving us with the out of control, futuristic M3LL155X, which was definitely her best work. But Magdalene comes out and it is like the 21st century Homogenic. Both are innovative, beautiful, and have great production. Anyway, the first song 'thousand eyes' is such an impressive opener for this album, it's very peaceful at some parts and get all the way to rock-bottom in some parts. It sounds like ... read more
Before listening to “MAGDELENE”, I went through each of FKA Twigs’ projects to have a general background of her sound and style. To say the least, I don’t really like “LP1” as much as it’s given credit for, and her first two EPs seem meandering, basic, and annoying. The only intriguing project of hers prior to this is “M3LL155X”, for its harsh production choices and bold musical structures. So, going into this record, let’s say I had ... read more
Is this the Homogenic of the 2010s?
After having marked the contemporary R&B scene with her first two EPs and her futuristic debut LP, FKA twigs delivers a short, unique, sumptuous and unforgettable album, marked by the evils of love breakdown.
It all begins with a vocal caress of infinite tenderness. "thousand eyes" opens where "cellophane", a magnificent single, concludes: a musical piece of confusing beauty and sensitivity. The arrangements overlap, the voice of FKA ... read more
After having marked the contemporary R&B scene with her first two EPs and her futuristic debut LP, FKA twigs delivers a short, unique, sumptuous and unforgettable album, marked by the evils of love breakdown.
It all begins with a vocal caress of infinite tenderness. "thousand eyes" opens where "cellophane", a magnificent single, concludes: a musical piece of confusing beauty and sensitivity. The arrangements overlap, the voice of FKA ... read more
after numerous listens, i can clearly say that this is the best heartbreak / breakup album since Björk's Vulnicura and it also happens to be my AOTY.
🌹: thousand eyes, home with you, sad day, holy terrain, mary magdalene, fallen alien, mirrored heart, daybed, cellophane
🥀: n/a
🌹: thousand eyes, home with you, sad day, holy terrain, mary magdalene, fallen alien, mirrored heart, daybed, cellophane
🥀: n/a
Thanks to its enchantingly transcendental vocal performances and heart-wrenching lyricism, Magdalene is perhaps FKA Twigs' finest, most profound statement to date, though often leaves a lot to be desired in terms of production and instrumental output.
Following the great success of her fascinating debut record and its more surreal follow-up EP, M3LL155X, Magdalene is a record over 2 years in the making, a conceptual album seeing Tahliah open up on her breakup with Robert Pattinson back in 2017 ... read more
Following the great success of her fascinating debut record and its more surreal follow-up EP, M3LL155X, Magdalene is a record over 2 years in the making, a conceptual album seeing Tahliah open up on her breakup with Robert Pattinson back in 2017 ... read more
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Track List
- thousand eyes
- home with you
- sad day
- holy terrain (feat. Future)
- mary magdalene
- fallen alien
- mirrored heart
- daybed
- cellophane
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1y
The best album of the year. The user scores here will change it when it was number one. But that's petty.
![Black Sabbath - Vol 4: [Super Deluxe Edition]](https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/200x/album/333546-vol-4-super-deluxe-edition.jpg)
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Added on: April 22, 2019