FKA twigs, EUSEXUA ALBUM REVIEW

FKA twigs’ third studio album combines her past weaknesses and newfound strength to bring us her most accessible and confident record yet.

Grade: B+

FKA Twigs’ third official studio album, EUSEXUA, sees her trading the art-pop, alt-R&B fragility of her previous work for a warped take on electronic music. While some Twigs fans are disappointed by her move away from the slow-moving, self-flagellating trip-hop balladry of projects like LP1 and M3LL155X, the writing was already on the wall after her debut mixtape with Atlantic Records, Caprisongs. Over 17 tracks, including a handful of interludes from her friends and fans, it was clear that Twigs was beginning something of a communal healing journey. This was in stark contrast to tracks like “Cellophane” and “Home With You” from her masterwork sophomore album MAGDALENE, which painted a deeply tortured and isolated persona struggling to find compassion amid chaos. The chaos, in this case, was a very public breakup with Robert Pattinson and the growth of several cystic tumors, the latter of which inspired the heart-wrenching and powerful cut “Daybed.” While the lyrical content and production of her independent releases under Young Records (EP1, EP2, LP1, MAGDALENE, M3LL155X) were more poetic and avant-garde, Caprisongs presented a happier version of Twigs. She collaborated with more upbeat artists like Rema and The Weeknd, got her horoscope read, and gave her fans a big hug on “Thank You Song” with Arca, who she came up with. The overall experience was certainly less compelling, but it was beautiful to see her find her tribe and smile in interviews again.

Enter EUSEXUA, an incredible record that gives us the best of both worlds. The experimental, isolated, and alien Twigs of her previous work collides with the strength and freedom of Caprisongs. The debut title track really lays it all out there right away. She creates a new term, “EUSEXUA,” a combination of ecstasy, sex, and euphoria; it perfectly describes how it feels to lose yourself in the company of people you feel safe around. It’s not quite love, and it’s not quite lust. “Do you feel alone? You’re not alone,” she sweetly sings as arpeggiated synths and techno hi-hats surround you. “And if they ask you, say you feel it, but don’t call it love, EUSEXUA.” When I first heard the track as the lead single, I liked it but didn’t love it. Now, I see it as the perfect way to kick off the era and the album. I feel pretty similarly about “Perfect Stranger,” which came out last year as the second single. It almost sees her learning from her past heartbreaks, putting up a protective shield to prevent herself from being hurt. Lyrics like “I don’t know your friends or your ex’s name, who left who, or who took the blame?” are super relatable. We’ve all been on that post-breakup Tinder date where we ask things like, “How many siblings do you have?” or “What do you do for work?” while pretending to look interested. Over bumping, straightforward early-2000s EDM production, Twigs prioritizes the moment, saying, “Just give me the person you are tonight.”

The first half of the record, from the intro to “Room of Fools”, is the clubbiest and strongest portion in terms of impact. The insane “Drums of Death” interweaves horny and violent spoken word with breakstop vocal samples from Twigs, harkening back to her more left-field early work. “Girl Feels Good” and “Room of Fools” to me are the most she’s ever worn her influences directly on her sleeve, which in this case are Björk’s Post and Madonna’s Ray of Light. You can really hear it in some of the vocal inflections, the production choices, and the general late ‘90s rave rhythms. It’s a married softness that has always existed in her work but is now in a more danceable trance state. It’s just such a delight seeing her really go out on a limb, so far from the comfort zone of her slower and more celebrated work. Although I think this record will take a bit of getting used to for veteran fans, songs like these really put on full display how much less constrained she is. Sometimes, that can be to the album’s detriment, like on the horrific misfire “Childlike Things.” Here, Twigs is doing a weird combo of M.I.A. cosplay with Flaming Lips’ wacky lyricism, all in service of this strange Jesus worship in Japanese from Kanye West’s daughter, North. I understand that childish play and throwing everything at the wall is kind of the MO of EUSEXUA, but something about the track’s presentation—and having an actual 12-year-old in the mix—just kind of sucks. Childlike play and sexual discovery is cool for an adult to do, but we don’t need a literal child running around within this concept. It’s just awkward and almost inappropriate to me. Personally, I had to “hide” this track on Spotify because it really is an outlier that brings the overall quality of the album down.

Despite that L, the track definitely captures the ethos of the album and its boundless creative process. In her recent interview with fellow art-pop legend Imogen Heap, she went into more depth about it. Koreless, the album’s executive producer, is very matter-of-fact and methodical in his sequencing of ideas in his own music. He’s worked with Twigs on certain tracks, but here, he is fully organizing her artistic chaos. They took about three years to work on this record, incorporating ideas and even additional production from the likes of Eartheater, Dylan Brady, Ojivolta, and (sigh) North West. From what I understand, hundreds of stems were haphazardly AirDropped to Koreless, and it was his job, with Twigs’ spiritual guidance, to make sense of it all. With a lesser producer and artist at the helm (see Chance the Rapper’s The Big Day), this approach could have ended someone’s career. But here, we get amazing tracks like “Sticky,” which swings between baroque balladry, Anyma-style glitch EDM, and JPEGMAFIA headbanging destruction. Or “Keep It, Hold It,” which draws on Björk’s nature vs. techno thesis. Or “Striptease,” which is the “eating the nachos” of Eartheater’s “Supersoaker”—probably Eartheater’s idea. I would have a problem with Twigs acting as a chameleon of styles, but she is so revered that I would bet icons like Madonna and Grace Jones are honored and love the record. When you’re carrying the torch and not ripping it from the hands of those who came before, you get music that draws from the past in the same way high fashion does—with tact and reverence.

The last two tracks, “24hr Dog” and “Wanderlust,” give longtime fans a respite from raving and pole dancing, trading in community for intimacy. “24hr Dog” sees FKA Twigs submitting to the will of a lover in ways that are reminiscent of “Lights On” and “Video Girl” from LP1. Even the drums and warbly keyboards feel like a conscious throwback to that era. Is it as compelling or striking, no not really. But I love it all the same. The closer “Wanderlust” really brings the entire project full circle. “I get violent in a rage when I’m sad and alone,” she says, acknowledging that the hurt feelings of MAGDALENE still manifest themselves when she’s left to her own devices. She gives her most impassioned and raw vocal performance on the entire record, in between Charli XCX-style autotune confessionals. This is her reconciling and understanding the myriad of emotions she’s felt on the journey of her career, and filtering them through a freer and consciously hazy lens. It’s a daydream in song form, blocking out the troubles of modern life and instead choosing to appreciate her limited time on Earth for what it is.

While technically speaking, this would earn the bronze medal amongst her three studio albums, I’m still happy that it exists exactly as it is. When she first came on the scene as a fragile and emotive young woman, I loved it and was blown away by her dedication to artistry. With MAGDALENE, we saw her go from fragile to broken, putting the pieces back together before breaking again. While both of those perspectives yielded stronger art, I don’t want her to ever have to feel that way again. Even when she released Caprisongs, I gave it a B-. Nothing on that record holds a candle to “Cellophane,” which I think is one of the greatest songs of all time. But I noted in my review that I’d rather her release a lesser work than have to be in pain for my entertainment. With EUSEXUA, maybe a healed, powerful, and clear-eyed Twigs is less thematically interesting, but I still love it. Of course, as a studio album, it’s less experimental and unique than her earlier work. The old Twigs would’ve never dropped that horrible North West song, obviously. But all things considered, this is a monumental record that will push mainstream culture in a more interesting direction. It’s not quite homespun masterpieces from a devastated woman in her bed, but there’s still a quality standard that puts it leagues above many other artists, old and new. I gave it a B+ because I find it to about as as great as her debut LP1 which I’d also give an A-, but the song with North West, some of the more simplistic lyrics and overt influences pulled it down ever so slightly.

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