8/10
No one word encapsulates the feeling FKA twigs centers on her latest LP, so she created one herself: “eusexua.” The word is seemingly a combination of “euphoria” and “sexual” (although twigs claims she simply made it up), and it describes a free, otherworldly feeling. twigs has called it the feeling she experiences when she loses all sense of time while dancing at a rave, the environment that inspired the electronic and IDM-centered album.
The project is a slight shift in sound for twigs, who started her career with a quieter electronic sound on 2014’s LP1 and 2019’s MAGDALENE. In 2022, she experimented with R&B, afrobeats, and hyperpop on her mixtape CAPRISONGS. No matter the genre, twigs’ music is inventive, conceptual, and embellished with her angelic soars.
The album’s opener and title track encapsulates the idea of eusexua. “Words cannot describe, baby / This feeling deep inside,” twigs sings over anxiety-inducing synthetic drums, distant screams, and ear-piercing static. The song picks up as instrumentals build and twigs repeats, “don’t call it love, eusexua.”
On the following two tracks, twigs fully commits to the dance aesthetic, capturing the allure of a night out. Ignorance is bliss when meeting love interests on “Perfect Stranger,” and confidence is intertwined with power on “Girl Feels Good.” After all, “a girl feels good, and the world goes ’round.” The tracks feel less original than the rest of the record but still incorporate moments of twigs’ eccentric production. Robot sounds transition the chorus of “Girl Feels Good” into the second verse, and the distorted pre-chorus of “Perfect Stranger” sounds as if it’s compressing and expanding repeatedly.
“Drums of Death,” meanwhile, feels completely new. It opens with bold drums and abruptly transitions into glitchy synths and layered vocals that fade into the background of twigs’ whispery first verse. Twigs preaches sexual liberation—“F*ck who you want / Babygirl, do it just for fun,” she sings. The song then shifts into one of the album’s catchiest hooks, ending with twigs boldly telling listeners to “serve c*nt / serve violence.”
Between the energetic dance tracks, twigs leaves room for her ambient roots. “24hr Dog” and “Sticky” slow the record down and highlight twigs’ vocal talent and songwriting. “Sticky” reflects on how she routinely gets into “sticky situations” even though she knows they are unhealthy. She references “Lights On” from LP1 where she sings, “When I trust you, we can do it with the lights on.” On “Sticky,” however, twigs is more direct and desperate, craving connection instead of finding it naturally. “I tried to f*ck you with the lights on/ In the hope you’d think I’m open,” she sings. The track builds gradually, distorting her voice and matching the rest of the project’s dance aesthetic, but it slows back down just in time for a mid-word beat drop in one of the album’s coolest moments.
Following “Sticky,” twigs returns to dance and makes the controversial choice to include a North West feature on “Childlike Things.” The feature and production are admittedly absurd and grating—the 11-year-old sings about Jesus in Japanese. Perhaps it’s the way twigs commits to the sound or how it’s submersed in an experimental project, but the song works within the context of the album.
“Striptease,” in contrast, is peak twigs, with gorgeous vocals, addictive melodies, and stunning lyricism. She opens the song gasping for air, but it soon becomes dreamy. “Silk for my tears, and lace for my fears / I’m stripping my heart, till my pain disappears,” she sings, before returning to the stuttering production of earlier tracks. In the end, the track speeds up and distorts the melody, going back to twigs’ original desperation.
“Wanderlust” closes out the record. twigs’ voice is submerged in autotune as she reflects on her life bluntly and looks ahead. “I get violent in a rage when I’m sat alone / I can criticise the world when I’m sat at home in bed,” she sings before realizing that “You’ve one life to live, do it freely / It’s your choice to break or believe in it.” She wraps up the record with its central theme of liberation.
With EUSEXUA, twigs remains visionary, experimental, and overwhelmingly successful. The record cements twigs as one of the most consistent and compelling artists of the last decade.
