Name: FKA Twigs Opens Up On Dance Background
Uploaded: 2026-02-07T14:00:00.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'FKA Twigs Opens Up On Dance Background' from TAFS Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2026-02-07. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'FKA Twigs Opens Up On Dance Background' from TAFS Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2026-02-07. Transcript available.

Do you know what the show Seinfeld is?
Yeah.
Okay, all right.
Have you seen a movie before?
The movie Seinfeld?
A movie.
A movie?
Yeah.
In my life?
I don't know.
These thoughts were popping in my head while I was doing research.
I was like, she may have not seen a movie before.
Yeah, I've seen a movie before.
Okay, all right.
We got that out of the way.
This guy.
What do you mean?
No, because your interests are so...
It seems to me like when you get interested in something, you go all the way in,
right?
Like when you got into like pole dancing, you went to like the best pole
dancing teacher in the world?
No, I didn't go to the best pole dancing teacher.
You went to the...
I go to people...
No, I just go to people that care.
No, like I mean for me, like I go to people that care.
So it was important for me when I first started to learn pole dancing that I
trained with another woman of color,
that I trained with somebody that had their own studio, that had a passion for
the movement.
Well, in my opinion, she's the best in the world, okay?
That's just one man's...
Let's go there.
Yeah, yeah.
Listen, there are a lot of amazing pole dancers, but I think for me, I just
wanted to go to a place where I could feel safe.
Whenever I pick a teacher, it's because they have something like they have a
want to get to the root of the cause and a respect for the community as well
around the...
What kind of music did your parents show you when you were a kid?
Oh my gosh, so much.
Did you like it?
I really did.
At times I felt very embarrassed by it, but now I'm so grateful because there
was a lot of like acid jazz, jazz fusion, you know, nonverbal jazz.
It's like people singing scat over beats or...
Uh-huh.
You know...
Like the Scat Man song?
Like...
Do you know that song?
No, I don't.
No, I don't know.
I was thinking more about like Tania Maria.
Oh, she's a scatter?
Yeah, one of her...
Oh, Tina Marie.
Tania Maria.
Oh, never mind.
Did you ever...
Like having like Caribbean roots and like being mixed race, did you ever get
into like kind of like dub or reggae or like kind of second wave ska?
Did you like the specials?
I did, but much later.
I love the specials.
I love the specials.
That was more in my 20s.
Like for me more in my teens, it was like discovering Bashman and Dancehall and...
Because I grew up in a place called Cheltenham, which is very white, but then
literally like 20 minutes away, there's a place called Gloucester, which is not
only got like an amazing black community, but also a Jamaican community.
Like Sound Clash and you went to like dub and reggae?
No.
Well, there was a club there called the Jamaican Club and it was when Dancehall
and Bashman was huge and I remember going to that when I was 16.
And like there were loads of rasters there, but it was like people that have
like just come from Jamaica and have created a community there.
And that's when I really discovered myself.
And I had like a huge breakthrough actually because I had a best friend at the
time who was white and blonde and really pretty and super popular.
And I would really want her to come with me to the Jamaican club and I remember
her saying to me that like she didn't want to come.
And I was like...
How old were you guys?
They were like 16, 17.
But I'd always like done stuff with her and all of my like white friends in
Cheltenham, you know, like whatever they wanted to do.
Partied.
Yeah, like it'd go, I don't know, do stuff that my white friends wanted to do,
like go to a skate park or...
Celebrate Easter.
No, I mean, that's what they like that.
What do you mean?
I'm sorry.
No, I mean like talk about like getting a Tony and Guy haircut or get GHDs.
Well, exactly.
What is that?
I don't understand.
I don't know what these white people are up to.
Nor do I.
Yeah, yeah.
No, like...
Is that what they do?
GHDs and Tony and Guy haircut?
I don't know, like get like GHDs and go to Tony and Guy and get like layers in
their hair and talk about Rachel from Friends.
Like, I don't know, but I was a teenager and I...
Oh, she had a great haircut.
No, like I was like a teenager and I was just like, where do I find myself in
this?
And I remember naively, like I'd started going to this Jamaican club in Gloucester
and I remember trying to get my white friends from my private Catholic school
to go to this club with me.
Because I was like, I'm always going to your stuff.
I was like, can you come?
And I remember one time I was just like, why didn't you want to come with me?
I have no one to go with.
And the answer was like, there were just too many black people there.
In that moment, I realized...
You're different.
I was different.
Yeah, I realized I was different.
And I also tried to explain my friend.
I was like, I am always with white people in Cheltenham.
So how you feel when you go to Jamaican club, that's kind of how I feel every
single day.
But it was kind of just a bit, you know, like this where I was like, do you
know what?
I need to go and go to London and just like expand my knowledge of the world
and meet more people and be in a more multicultural environment.
Because I was like, otherwise I'm just going to die a slow death here.
Like, I'm just going to get crushed.
Yeah.
And also get exposed to your cultural roots.
Exactly.
I imagine.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
You were in a band, Delirium?
Delirium Tremens.
Oh, nice.
Like the beer?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Can I hear it?
Do you have any?
No.
This is like pre.
Come on, you have a little bit.
This is basically pre-internet.
What was it, like Riot Grrrl?
It was, well, I was, it wasn't my band.
It was kind of like my friend's band and I would be like the additional backing
singer in the band.
You were like the Bez?
I don't know the Bez.
The guy in Happy Mondays with the, with the tambourine?
No, I was like the backing singer.
So I do like additional, like screaming, I guess.
Really?
Oh, so you didn't play any instruments?
No, no, I would scream, like to double his screaming.
Oh, was it guy was making you scream?
Yeah.
Was it guy-girl band or you were the only girl?
No, I was the only girl, but I was like an addition.
I wasn't like the main one.
You were weird but popular.
That's my new decision about you.
I was...
She was, she was cool.
I can tell.
By the way she's talking to me right now, she was popular in high school.
I can tell.
Why are you mad at me right now?
Because I don't want these false narratives.
But I was like the runt of the popular girls group.
That's where I'd place myself.
But then outside, like if I did dancing or when I'd come to London, like that
was super chill.
I'd say I wasn't popular or not popular.
I'd say that when I came to London and was doing dancing, singing, hanging out,
I'd say that like I was just like in the mix, like having a good time.
What about, so you became, you moved to London and became a dancer.
Yes.
And you were like in videos and stuff, you were coveted from what I understand.
Yeah, I was, I had a good career as a backing dancer.
I had a solid, I had a career I'm proud of as a backing dancer.
You danced for Sheeran?
I danced for Sheeran.
Is he chill as a guy?
Sweet.
When you were in dance though, did you like, you wanted to be at the front of
the dancers?
Do you have an ambition there?
It's not that I was at the front, it was just that like, it's not that I wanted
to be at the front.
It's that like I was very expressive, but I couldn't like fit into the group.
Because you were getting twice as much money.
When?
I heard that, that's what I did in my research.
For what?
When you were the best dancer.
I wasn't getting twice as much money.
I would be proud of that.
No, me too, if that was the case.
When you're a dancer, you get like a flat rate usually, but.
Are the girls cunts to each other?
Is there a black swan kind of thing happening?
I never experienced that.
Because you were above all that drama.
No, I just made good friends.
Like some of my dance friends from when I was a backing dancer, I still like
know now.
I actually hooked one of them up with my piano teacher and they just had a baby.
Really?
Yeah.
So, wow.
Yeah, one of my oldest dance friends, I did a piano lesson in lockdown and I
met this guy
and I was like, you have exactly the same personality, like humor, as my old
backing dancer friend.
And then I put them in a group text and I was like, you guys should know each
other.
The worst that can happen is that you'll be friends and they just had a baby.
How does it feel?
Well, my friend sent me a message and said...
It's a little bit your baby too.
I don't need more responsibilities, but...
No, you don't need the responsibility, but it's your baby, but you don't have
to do anything.
It was the best case scenario.
Yeah, I guess so.
But she sent me a message and she was like, hi, I'm new in the world and I feel
like you've got something to do with me being here.
I just wanted to meet you.
I know, maybe you want to cry.
I know, yeah.
It was really cute.
It's so beautiful.
Yeah, it was really sweet.
You should take responsibility for that baby.
I don't need to take...
You've got to be the man who showed up.
Yeah, I think it's just nice.
It's cute.
So, you were also like...
Were you supporting yourself at the time?
You were a young person living in the big city.
Yeah, well, I had a lot of jobs.
So, from when I left home, I literally would have like four jobs.
I was crazy.
Like, I would just like run around.
I was a dancer.
I was a youth worker.
I worked in Selfridges and I worked in a bar.
And I would take any job.
Like, I literally remember having this rucksack and it had almost like the
different costumes for my different jobs.
And any shift that came up, I would like run around, run around.
And then when I got to...
I can't remember actually.
Maybe it was like 22, 23 or 24.
I can't remember what age.
Early 20s.
I said to my stepdad, who I'd reconnected with, that I was doing all this stuff
and I really wanted to make music.
And I said, can I quit two of my jobs for six months?
I said, I'll keep two.
I'll quit two.
And will you help me with my rent in London?
And then he was like, yeah, because I didn't go to university and I was like
very independent from when I was a teenager.
I'd always make my own money.
So he was like, I'll support you with your rent for six months so you can quit
two of the jobs.
And then with that time, you can go in the studio.
And then I said, if in six months I don't get signed or anything, then I'll
just go and get a normal job.
And he supported me for six months.
And almost like at the end of that time, I then got a record deal.
We'll see you next time.