FKA Twigs 'honoured' to headline Meltdown festival 2027 at London's Southbank Centre

The beloved annual festival - headlined by Harry Styles last summer - launched in 1993 and sees a different cultural figure curate 11 days of concerts and performances across the centre’s venues.

Grammy-winning star Twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, said: “I am honoured and excited to be curating Meltdown at the Southbank Centre.

“The potent artistic and cultural landscape in London has raised me from Croydon College, to performing in underground cabaret clubs, dancing till sunrise in warehouses on the docks and last year being lucky enough to sing my operatic songs in one of the largest arenas in London.”

The 38-year-old went on: “The cultural and artistic clash in this city is like no other. Where cultures, sounds, stories and traditions from all over the world meet, collide and transform one another.

“I intend to bring you a slice of all that has raised me and continues to inspire me: celebrating the diversity, freedom and creative energy that I believe makes London one of the world’s great capitals of music and the arts.”

FKA Twigs will also curate the festival

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Twigs’ most recent albums, Eusexua and Eusexua Afterglow were both released in 2025, preceding her Body High Tour, which ended in June.

Other highlights of the 2027 season at the Southbank Centre include Italian playwright Romeo Castellucci putting on his first London performance for 16 years with the play Bros and a performance by Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Mark Ball, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, said: “We’re living through a time where people are feeling increasingly isolated and divided, and I genuinely believe live, shared experiences are the most powerful remedy we have.

“That conviction sits right at the heart of our 2027 season.“When we gather together to experience great culture together we build community, where our heartbeats synchronise, our spirits lift, and we are reminded of our shared humanity.”

The singer performing at Coachella in April

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Twigs will be Meltdown’s 32nd curator. Past curators include Harry Styles, Little Simz, Chaka Khan, Grace Jones, David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Nile Rodgers, M.I.A., David Bowie and Patti Smith.

The 2027 Meltdown festival will run from June 10 to June 20.

Twigs is on a high after a year of award-winning success. She bagged a Grammy in February for best dance/electronic album for Eusexua, beating competition from fellow British artists PinkPantheress and Fred Again.

In her winner’s speech, she said: “I didn’t expect to come up here. I was just so happy to be nominated. Thank you so much – wow.”