“F*ck it, make it yours. Do it just for fun,” Inside the world of FKA twigs’s EUSEXUA

Elena Hernandez - Music Editor

January 24th marked the release of FKA twigs’s third studio album, and her first in five years since MAGDALENE (2019). Best known for her experimental Avant-pop and trip-hop, twigs has amassed a cult following of millions.

Although in more recent years, twigs has been dipping her toes into the pool of pop stardom. Three years ago, she released the mixtape CAPRISONGS (2022), featuring appearances from stars like the Weeknd, Rema, and Daniel Caesar.

“Eusexua” is a term coined by twigs to describe that feeling of transcendence one experiences during immeasurable pleasure. “It’s like when you’ve been kissing a lover for hours and turn into an amoeba with that person. You’re not human anymore, you’re just a feeling…Or that moment before an orgasm: pure nothingness but also pure focus. That’s [how] I want to live my life right now,” she said in an interview.

Each of twigs’s most recent music videos for the record ends with a black screen that reads: “EUSEXUA IS A PRACTICE. EUSEXUA IS A STATE OF BEING. EUSEXUA IS THE PINNACLE OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE.”

Beginning with the steady pulse of a simple drumbeat (or the sound of our hearts keeping us alive), the title track transports us into twigs’s world of EUSEXUA. “Wonder how you feel/ Words cannot describe, baby/ This feeling deep inside,” twigs sings softly in the first verse. In the song's climax, the beat transforms into a full-on techno experience, inspired by the music twigs “fell in love with” during filming for The Crow remake in Prague.

However, it's the outro that reminds us that this is an FKA twigs record, after all: “People always told me that I take my love too far/ Then refused to help me/ I was on the edge of something greater than before/ But nobody told me/ Eusexua.”

“Girl Feels Good” serves as a call to action from twigs, urging men to center women's desires. “I fear the man who finds himself lost/ In tales of war, delusions of more/ Beautiful boys, I wish you knew how precious you are/ Your mother’s, sister’s, lover’s heart is where there’s healing,” she sings. Over a hypnotic synth riff that entrances its listener, twigs declares, “A girl feels good, and the world goes round…When a girl feels good, you’ll know/ When a girl feels good, she’s gonna keep you around.”

Next is “Perfect Stranger,” a track fit for the dance floor and simultaneously a commentary on hook-up culture. She sings, “I don’t know the name of the town you’re from/ Your star sign or the school you failed/ I don’t know and I don’t care…and that’s okay with me/ To live my life with some mystery.”

“Drums of Death” is a filthy electronic track riddled with drums and bass, accompanied by twigs’s chopped and spliced vocals interspersed throughout. “Keep It, Hold It” suddenly bursts into dance halfway through. “Striptease”, a sultry Avant-trap hit, utilizes the metal clanging of two objects.

Without a doubt, “Room of Fools” is EUSEXUA’s magnum opus. Accompanied by a sporadic techno beat, in its chorus twigs chirps, “It feels nice,” describing the sweaty dance floor of an underground rave. North West, daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, is the only artist featured. She appeared on “Childlike Things,” singing in Japanese.

Since its release, many critics have been vocal about their praise for EUSEXUA. Pitchfork and Rolling Stone have even drawn comparisons to artists like Madonna, Björk, and Kate Bush. The record debuted at #24 on this week’s Billboard 200, making it the highest charting project of her career so far.