Rating: 9/10
FKA twigs’ third studio album, “EUSEXUA,” is all about freedom. Whether sexual freedom, freedom on the dance floor or freedom from the mind, FKA twigs liberates herself from any restricting factors in her life in a sweaty, impulsive and ecstatic album.
FKA twigs created the term “eusexua” to describe a combination of euphoria and sexuality. According to her, “eusexua is a practice, eusexua is a state of being, eusexua is the pinnacle of human experience.” On the album, she details this human experience with trippy distortion, rhythmic textures and glitchy vocals that illustrate the release of the body and mind.
FKA twigs’ attempt to capture this sensation has been over three years in the making: The album’s idea came to her in 2022 while shooting in Prague. FKA twigs would find herself drawn to roaring nightclubs, dances with strangers and the energetic buzz that radiated from the throngs of people around her.
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Conceptually, the album is grandiose — there’s a complex spirituality associated with self-exploration and realization, yet the music feels surprisingly carefree. Techno beats and lustful synths course through the album, not to persuade the listener of the freedom that is eusexua but to embody it entirely.
“Girl Feels Good” turns sex into an otherworldly experience, as the song radiates a hypnotic sensual energy similar to Madonna’s “Ray of Light.” Layered electronic rhythms ebb and flow seamlessly as FKA twigs’ voice airily cries, “When a girl feels good, it makes the world go ‘round.”
The track is undeniably sensual, but it’s also about something more than pleasure — it captures the feeling of being truly in tune with your body and surroundings and allowing yourself to surrender to the moment. The track lures the listener into a trance as the beats pulse steadily in the background, and the synths dance around them, creating a spacey, visceral atmosphere.
“Room of Fools” is perhaps one of the most intense songs of the album, with its futuristic soundscape and dissonant energy making every lyric feel like a command. The beat thuds relentlessly, propelling the song forward as if FKA twigs is snarling from the dancefloor, commanding attention with every pulse.
FKA twigs wrote “Room of Fools” in the bathroom of a club, and the immediacy of that moment is palpable within the song itself.
The song offers a sense of clarity, embodying the moment when you step away from the crowd and are left alone for just a moment. It’s a raw experience within the album where FKA twigs perfectly captures the feeling of eusexua, her voice tauntingly evasive as she sings over the thundering bassline.
On “24hr Dog,” FKA twigs’ voice contorts with an experimental edge, her signature falsetto twisting into something more enigmatic.
“Please don’t call my name/ When I submit to you this way,” she croons, the rise and fall of her voice sounding oddly ceremonial.
The track surges forward with unrelenting momentum as FKA twigs’ voice cuts off and the industrial growl of the electric guitar takes over, giving the song a magnetic sense of urgency. The track is sacramental, with FKA twigs offering herself up to her lover as if gifting a part of herself, not because she has to but because she can.
FKA twigs slinks around on “Striptease,” her voice trilling with ease as the pulsating rhythm skitters beneath it. She takes breaths between each verse, gasping for air intimately and urgently.
The beat is fast-paced, and there is something liberating about how the trippy distortion and rhythmic textures create something truly transcendent, echoing the overarching theme of freedom and self-discovery.
The album’s meaning isn’t lost within the techno foundation of its sound. Instead, it’s heightened by it. The essence of “EUSEXUA” is woven throughout the album — in the exuberance of “Childlike Things,” the organic and synthetic layers of “Wanderlust” and the extraterrestrial feeling of “Drums of Death.”
“EUSEXUA” creates a whole new feeling, a whole new state of being and a sense of liberation and ecstasy in the purest sense of the word. It invites the listener to lose themselves within the music and revel in the sensation of release and surrender in absolute freedom.
