When British singer FKA twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, 30, came to Kyiv to film a video for her latest song, they opted to use a Ukrainian pole for the pole dancing routine performed by the singer in the first part of the video.
The Ukrainian production team in Kyiv, Radioaktive, were worried, however. According to Ekaterina Galitskaya, Radioaktive’s executive producer, they even ordered a backup pole to be brought from the UK.
“They (British team of FKA twigs) wanted to use our (Ukrainian) pole, but it turned out to be different from standard ones. We were worried about Tahliah. A pole was ordered from England, but in the end, they used the Ukrainian one because the local pole was better.”
The video for the song, called “Cellophane” and released on April 24 (the singer’s first single in three years), has already hit over one million views on YouTube.
Shot on Radioaktive’s sound stage in Kyiv in the second half of December 2018, the first scene of the video required 500 meters of cloth to form the backdrop.
FKA twigs trained for months to perfect the pole dancing routine she performs in the video, which was directed by Andrew Thomas Huang.
“Throughout my life, I’ve practiced my way to being the best I could be, it didn’t work this time. I had to tear down every process I’d ever relied on. Go deeper. Rebuild. Start again,” FKA twigs said of the process of working on her second album.
FKA twigs started her career as a backup dancer in music videos for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, and Jessie J.
The new single is a sweeping, dramatic return, featuring her high, artistic, and undeniably emotional vocals. It was long in coming because the singer has been plagued by health problems in recent years
In May 2018, FKA twigs revealed on Instagram that she had undergone surgery to remove fibroid tumors from her uterus in December 2017. She described her experience as “living with a fruit bowl of pain every day,” and saluted the bravery of other women living with the condition.
Radioaktive, one of the leading film producers in Ukraine, has produced numerous advertising/publicity videos clips, notably a commercial for Apple filmed in Kyiv. The company has worked on music videos for a range of international artists, among them Twenty One Pilots, Hurts, Tame Impala, DJ Shadow, Mø, Foals, as well as for Ukrainian bands.
In 2016, the company joined other firms to work on a music video for the song “Up & Up” by the British band Coldplay.
In 2018, Radioaktive Film won the Production Service Company of the Year award at the 2018 Shots Awards in London.
Galitskaya says that the filming in Kyiv for FKA twigs’ video took two 16-hour days and the company’s cooperation with FKA twigs was one of the pleasant jobs they have ever had.
“Tahliah is one of the most talented and unpretentious people,” Galitskaya told the Kyiv Post.
