FKA Twigs spent the majority of her childhood alone. In the tradition of geniuses everywhere, she was isolated from her peers because of her widely different interests and wise-beyond-her-years perspective. Although, Twigs was isolated in more ways than one. Born on 16 January 1988 as Tahliah Debrett Barnett in the small town of Tewkesbury in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Twigs was the only person of colour in her whole school up until sixth form (or grades 11 & 12 for Americans). Not only did this naturally add to her feelings of isolation, Twigs was actively bullied because of it, saying in an interview: “people said horrible things about something I had no control of, which was tough,” While the other kids were off playing tag in the playground, Twigs was sneaking off to the bottom of the field imagining pulling herself up a solitary spider thread. In Twig’s words, “If I kept following that, I thought to myself, it’s gonna lead to a door and behind that door is where I should be. I was just naturally inclined this way. I was always really creative.”