George Gershwin’s “Summertime” is one of the most popular standards in the American songbook, having been recorded more than 25,000 times. Now, British artist FKA twigs has made it her own with a slow, hazy cover for BBC Radio 1.
For her appearance on Radio 1’s Future Sounds with Annie Mac, FKA twigs wore your grandmother’s drapes an avant garde reimagining of puritan garb and sat in a living room set. But it’s the vocals that truly stole the show. She approached “Summertime” at a lugubrious pace, her long phrases dripping with humidity. While her voice tends to be ethereal and thin, she let loose for “Summertime” with some big gospel belting.
She followed up “Summertime” with performances of two recent singles of her own, “Cellophane” and “Home With You”. For all that and an interview with Annie Mac about her upcoming album, Magdalene, check out the video below.
FKA twigs’ new LP drops this Friday, November 8th. Other singles include “Holy Terrain” and “Sad Day”, and she’d previously performed “Cellophane” at The Wallace Collection and on Fallon. The “Magdalene Tour” is sweeping through North America now before heading to Europe next month. Get your tickets here.