Fka Twigs ~ Eusexa

 

The first album I really fell in love with is Eusexa by FKA Twigs. Even though I loved LP1 it did kinda surprise me, since Caprisongs and Magdalene did not click with me the same as her debut Album did. I also didn't follow the Album Rollout, it kinda went over my head in-between all the massive things happening music wise in 2024. Between Beyonce, Charli xcx, Kendrick Lamar there was really so much great stuff happening last year. Partly that was the reason why I lowered my expectations for 2025. Often there are ups and downs. Most of my favourite artists dropping fairly regularly have dropped either in 24 or the year before so it did feel reasonable to not expect anything too crazy, but then I started Eusexa by FKA Twigs.

Rarely do I listen to an album too many times in a row, but after I first heard it, Eusexa was the only thing I wanted to listen to for a whole Week. Why was that? There are two things that particularly struck me about that album: The production and the lyrics.

First the Production: When trying to recommend Eusexa to friends I often already struggled with pinning down a genre I could place the album in. I know that there is a point of contention amongst music nerds, whether there is even good use in genre categories. To me it helps better making sense of a given project. I can see it in a grander set of philosophies and traditions, compare to similar projects, see where it is unique, whether it is commenting on previous consensus and make it a part of narrowly few on the trends within the genres of its time. Others might say it boxes projects in, makes people blind to a wide range music they deem not to be their genre and oversimplifies the complexity of artistic expressio. 

Trying to box this lp into a genre is the best argument against this genre: You could call it Dance/Electro, alternative Pop, Hyper-Pop, Techno,  Avant-garde or maybe even rnb. Even though Eusexa has (unlike the predecessor Caprisongs) a clear and coherent sound, it mixes these various elements so well that it is really hard to describe what sound it is exactly that  you are getting. It is unique, but catchy, crafted really well and the influences, that might help create this experience, melt together so smoothly, that I kind of am wondering how Eusexa has not been an established genre for years.

Secondly there are the lyrics: FKA Twigs creates a world about intimacy and distance, codependency and self determination, fear of abandonment and isolation. It is the kind of contrasts that I could see coming from a person struggling with self worth for example. On the one hand you need company, you need to know you are worth it to some people, but you are also afraid of making something wrong, losing your worth, by losing people you open up to: “But it hurts so bad to shed my skin with you watching” the words FKA Twigs find to describe her inner world strike a deeper truth, create this haunting foundation to the complexity of opening up when you feel isolated from the world. And that with only few words, there are multiple songs with verses that are only four lines long and still the words FKA Twigs uses really create worlds. “People Always tell me that I take my love too far then refuse to help me” or “Your love chores destract me from my worst flaws” are only two of many examples how FKA Twigs is able to hint at her own complexity and pain in one sentence whitout oversimplifing the conflicts and Anxieties of her life. The thematic concept feels so dense that I do read it as one narrative about a relationship FKA Twigs has went through, but I could also see validity in looking at the songs more loosely, much like her debut Album LP1.

 

One thing is sure, I am definitely excited to see, what she is cooking up next, so far every of her albums was a surprise and a bold statement and this one hit particularly hard for me. Much love to FKA Twigs and thank you for sharing your experiences with the world.

Short: I had Eusexa ON REPEAT FOR A WHOLE WEEK