The 11-year-old raps in Japanese on the song inspired by ‘Where the Wild Things Are’

North West; FKA Twigs. Photo:

Aeon/GC Images; Allen Berezovsky/Getty

FKA twigs’ “Childlike Things” features a celebrity kid.

In an Instagram Reel shared on Thursday, March 20, the “Cellophane” singer revealed how North West, the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, wound up being featured on the track from her new album, Eu𝑠e𝑥ua, where she raps in Japanese.

Twigs, 37, shared the story while putting on her makeup, captioning the minutes-long clip “papaya tea storytime.”

When she was in the studio working on the album and while playing a bassline, a song “came into my head,” she recalled. “And everyone was looking at me, and I was on the mic, and then all of the sudden,” she blurted out the lyrics that would become the first verse of “Childlike Things.”

“I’ve got supersonic powers that are polyphonic/ Like a chocolate teapot, melt ’em down and burn ’em up/ I’ve got supersonic powers that are polyphonic/Extra tonic give a glass of gin just to put it in/Drink it up feeling dead alive like a nine-to-five/I’ve got supersonic powers.”

The people in the studio working with her asked if she just wrote it, and she said it was from a song she wrote as a child.

FKA Twigs in New York City in May 2023.

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Twigs, whose real name is Tahlia Debrett Barnett, said that as a child, she loved the book Where the Wild Things Are, which are part of the song’s lyrics: “Where the wild things are I will be/Lost in a world of childlike things and fantasies.”

“It’s about dreaming of being a star, it’s about dreaming about being around artists. It’s about dreaming about being around people that are eccentric and big thinkers,” she said, adding that she found it “amazing” that she “manifested this moment” and her life, since she’s surrounded by artists.

Twigs noted that her label said to have someone on the song that has a “childlike energy” would be key. “It needs someone who has that tenacity, who has that strong point of view that you have when you’re 11,” she recalled.

The Gloucestershire native said that she then saw an interview with North. “She was so confident. It suddenly occurred to me that I would’ve loved to have a friend like North who could speak up for themselves.”

In the interview, North recounted a time she was with her friends and her cousins who were scared of the dark. North told them that all they needed to do was believe in God and believe in Jesus. “He’s gonna look out for us, we can pray,” she said, per twigs, calling the 11-year-old mature.

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“I was like, ‘Okay, it has to be North, she has to put her point of view on the song,’ ” she continued. “She came and wrote about her faith, which I think is really powerful.”

“When I listen to that verse, I just think this is about a young child that has a point of view, that has a very strong and unwavering point of view about what she believes in.”

In her verse, North raps in Japanese: “Hello, my name is North/ From California to Tokyo/ Jesus the King/ Praise God/ Jesus is the only true God.”

Twigs concluded her story, pointing out the coincidence in getting North to work on the song. “The crazy thing is that I wrote the song when I was 12, 13; she wrote the song when she was 11,” she said. “This is a collaboration that has taken decades to come to fruition. North helped make this song come to life after so many years, and for that I’m so grateful.”

Fans were moved by twigs’ story of how the feature came to be. “this explanation is beautiful and makes the song SO much more profound and beautiful, every story and intention behind each song elevates the art so much more,” one user wrote.

“this is actually so beautiful & made me enjoy the song even more tbhh im glad i had the energy to open insta today,” another chimed in.