WVAU’s #5 Song of 2015: "In Time" by FKA Twigs

Courtesy of Genius

Beneath the modular synth and electronic string construction of “In Time‰” lies the girlfriend you don‰’t want. Like, really don‰’t want. Maybe you‰’ve already even broken up with her, but her texts keep coming in, and she shows up to all the same parties as you, and- wait- is that her car creeping along outside your house right now?

A quick listen to Twig‰’s smooth and sensual vocals in the first verse might have you thinking something different. This isn‰’t a girl who waits outside office for you to get off of work, this is a girl who‰’s truly committed to someone who‰’s done her wrong, maybe multiple times, but she‰’s not ready to give up yet. She knows you can get through this rough patch and get back to that phantasmagoric honeymoon faze of love and bodily contact. Heck, maybe you even feel sorry for her for refusing to see what a jerk this person really is.

Then there‰’s a switch in the next verse. Suddenly the music gets a bit louder, twisty strings of synths add some pizzaz and Twigs throws herself and her visions into the lyrics. Where her desire was once expressed through the lyrics, “Your hands on my body will resonate through me,‰” she now declares, “And you will be greater/The one that I always wanted you to be.‰Û

If the craziness wasn‰’t coming through enough in that line, all pretenses disappear in the chorus. The music bounds through the speakers and, with the primal scream of a girl who‰’s phone calls have gone to voicemail one too many times, Twigs exclaims, “You‰’ve got a goddamn nerve/Everyday, everyday/you be testing my sane.‰” And then, just like that, the rage disappears and Twigs is standing at your dorm with a box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses, crooning to you in seductive falsetto of the first verse, ready to start the cycle again. Ready to intimidate you with her crazy and amaze you with her song-writing prowess.