Last April, FKA twigs appeared on GANG, the collaborative mixtape by U.K. drill rapper Headie One and producer Fred again.., singing on the interlude “Judge Me.†Now, nearly a year later, the trio has returned to the track, building it out to the full song “Don’t Judge Me,†with an artful video to boot. Twigs’s voice sounds ethereal as ever on the song, while Headie One’s verse takes on racism in the U.K. “We can walk free, but are we really walking free here?†he raps. “How can this be home when I feel I wanna flee here?†Along with another stunning dance performance by twigs (wearing all Black designers), the video features Black English activists and cultural figures, including poets Solomon O.B. and Benjamin Zephaniah, writer Reni Eddo-Lodge, models Kukua Williams, Munroe Bergdorf, and Danto Earth, performer Lisa Elde, entrepreneur Nicole Crentsil, fitness trainer Efua Baker, soccer player Mahlon Romeo, and radio host Clara Amfo, according to a release. That group stands around the artist Kara Walker’s fountain Fons Americanus, a piece currently installed at London’s Tate Modern that takes on the history of the transatlantic slave trade.
“Don’t Judge Me†is twigs’s first full song since her acclaimed 2019 album, Magdalene. She recently said that she made a new album in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s unclear whether “Don’t Judge Me†will be part of that project.