FKA Twigs Covers Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” At BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge: Watch

Christina Lee | September 7, 2014 6:59 am

FKA Twigs covered Sam Smith‘s “Stay With Me” during a recent stop at BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.

The rising R&B auteur (“Two Weeks,” “Video Girl”) says that the song’s opening words struck a chord with her. “There was one line which basically alludes to saying, ‘I’m not in love with you and maybe this isn’t a serious thing, but it’s perfect right now and it’s what I need emotionally right now,” she said to host Alice Levine during the segment.

While performing, FKA Twigs’ voice quivered as she sang the hook, a soulful touch that the Whitney Houston-inspired Smith would likely appreciate. Overall however, she effectively transformed Smith’s gospel-inspired hit into abstract trip-hop. There’s no backing choir here.

Instead FKA Twigs sounded uneasy, if not haunted, as she stuttered through some lyrics and stretched out others, to the effect of a recording skipping one moment and sounding warped the next. Her cover would fit right in her debut album LP1, out now on Young Turks.

Does FKA Twigs do Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” justice? Watch her Live Lounge performance up top, then sound off in the comments below.

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.