FKA Twigs Parents Influenced Her Career from an Early Age

From sneaking her into salsa classes to exposing her to the music of her half-Jamaican culture, FKA Twigs' parents have shaped their daughter's creative talents since she was a little girl and have supported the singer throughout her successful career.

FKA Twigs, born Tahliah Barnett, has risen to stardom for her multifaceted talent as a singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, and filmmaker. She grew up surrounded by farmlands in Gloucestershire, England, and inherited her mother's rhythm on the dancefloor and her father's culture's love of music.

This boundary-pushing artist has since released award-winning music, danced in the music videos of fellow musical stars, and topped the charts with her art. And she had done so with the support of her mother, father, and stepfather.

FKA Twigs's Mother Also Has a Creative Profession

Twigs grew up in rural Gloucestershire with her mother and stepfather, and for the first ten years of her life, the family was financially stable. However, that suddenly changed when Twigs and her family lived off benefits and a maintenance allowance for her bus fares and school lunches.

After winning a scholarship at a private all-girls school, Twigs recalled how she would overcompensate for having less by pretending she didn't and always presenting herself well. The singer said:

"I was always the poor kid, even though I very much tried to pretend to be the other way... I guess it was character-shaping."

Her mother, who has a half-Spanish background, worked as a salsa teacher, dancer, and gymnast. She encouraged Twigs to study ballet and opera from a young age, and for a long time, Twigs had aspirations of becoming a dancer.

When Twigs was younger, her mother used to sneak her into salsa nightclubs and hide her under the DJ's desk so that her daughter could get a taste of salsa. By the time Twigs was 18, she had relocated to London to attend dance school but soon realized it was not her true calling.

However, although she dropped out, the singer never stopped dancing. In July 2020, Twigs took to Instagram to share a video of herself practicing ballet with a partner, followed by a short clip of herself practicing her "movement" in July of the following year. One of her most recent dance videos was in February 2023.

After dropping out of dance school after five or six weeks, Twigs realized her true passion was singing. However, she shared, "But I still train every week—it's just part of my life. I do ballet at least once or twice a week, along with contemporary and Hip Hop."

Twigs started singing with a jazz band at 13 and was approaching the end of her teenage years when she realized her calling was making music.

Her father, who is half-Jamaican, exposed Twigs to the large Jamaican community in Gloucestershire, where she grew up watching people rapping and began writing choruses. Twigs said:

"Eventually, people started saying, 'You've got a really nice voice; you should start doing your own stuff.' I realized that was all I wanted to do for a career by the time I was 18."

In 2018, Twigs' passion for the arts saw her win the award for Best Video at the MOBO Awards. And as she took the stage to accept her award—with ex-boyfriend Robert Pattinson cheering her on from the crowd—Twigs said, "I'd like to thank my mom and my dad for always being so supportive."

FKA Twigs Had a Stepfather

Twigs' parents were not the only ones who played a significant role in her life, as her stepfather also taught the singer a valuable lesson about moving in the world as a woman of color.

When she was still a schoolgirl, Twigs' stepfather taught her that she would have to work twice as hard as the white girls in her class to prove herself and that she could not afford only to be good. She had to be brilliant. "I heard that," the singer revealed.