1001 Songs Challenge #985: Two Weeks (2014)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!

 

FKA Twigs – Two Weeks (2014)

 

 

Welcome to 2014, dear reader. We had just one song in 2013 and spent our time in Virginia with Pharrel Williams. Today, we are returning to the UK and to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. Tahliah Debrett Barnett, known professionally as FKA Twigs, began her career in 2004, focusing first on dancing before switching to music. We join her in 2014 with the release of her debut album, LP1, and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the track, Two Weeks. 

In Two Weeks, FKA Twigs is a narrator who seems to be addressing someone whose current relationship is fragile. She beseeches them to give her a chance instead of their current lover. The song title refers to the mere 14 days our narrator assures us she needs to change the mind of this person she has fallen for, to woo them with lust and affection, and in that short space of time completely forget the one they are currently with. Whether this person takes a chance on our narrator is not divulged but they are putting forward a compelling argument. 

Two Weeks offers a heavy dose of R&B and an interesting premise with its narrator trying to lure someone out of a relationship. This sounds like a bad thing but they are adamant that they can make this person’s life better. FKA Twigs continues to perform to this day and has two albums to her name. She has also been in the headlines for relationships with fellow celebrities including a controversially abusive one with actor, Shia LeBeouf.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)

Snow Patrol – Run