Performing at the Grammys is an honour amongst the highest calibre of honours for an artist, and yet when it came to FKA twigs, she wasn’t even given a mic, and was only asked to showcase her pole-dancing abilities. 

In a tribute to Prince at the 2020 Grammys, Sheila E., FKA twigs and Usher were asked to all perform together to honour the late legend. Now you’d assume that with two of those people being singers and one being a guitarist, you’d have the range to explore a multitude of duet options. This, however, was not the case.

The Grammys it seems only wanted Usher to be heard on the night, reducing FKA twigs, in a way, to just being a backup dancer to make him look better.

As a vigilant member of the FKA twigs fan club, and also a decent human being, I don’t think it is unfair to say that the problem here is scathingly obvious. This all has so much to do with the Grammys getting major hard-ons for mainstream pop artists. FKA twigs, to the academy, is too challenging for the mainstream. Her voice is too high, her avant-garde presentation is too obscure for the brains of the viewers to comprehend.

Watch the impeccable singing and pole dancing talents that could have been on display at the Grammys.

Now adversely the issue could be broken down and examined as one of sexism, which is fair, because FKA twigs has proven time and time again that she can sing pitch-perfect while pole dancing, so why wasn’t she mic’d up for this tribute?

Sure she has incredible pole dancing skills, and it is a miracle that they even asked her to perform given their recent treatment of non-pop artists, but you have to wonder what the hell was really up.

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Taking to Twitter, twigs expressed her gratitude to being asked, but also displayed that she did, in fact, want to sing.

Check out the tweet below.

In case you’ve never heard the angelic voice of FKA twigs, bear witness below in this striking performance for Valentino.

Watch the full live performance below.

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