EUSEXUA IS A PRACTICE
EUSEXUA IS A STATE OF BEING
EUSEXUA IS THE PINNACLE OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE
These words appear on screen for a few seconds at the end of every music video released by FKA twigs during her current album cycle, aptly titled “Eusexua.” “Eusexua,” FKA twigs claims, is a term she created because there was no existing word in the English language to describe its meaning. In an interview on Vogue’s “The Run -Through” podcast, twigs defines the word as “the moment before I get a really good idea of pure clarity. Like, when everything moves out the way, everything in your mind is completely blank and your mind is elevated.” The word, which is a combination of “euphoria” and “sexual,” describes “that feeling when you’ve been dancing all night and you lose seven hours to music. It’s also if you meet somebody that you really like, and you just kiss all night, and you kiss for all hours. You lose time.”
With this out of the way, I will now tell you, track by track, and with no musical-review expertise, why I believe “Eusexua” is already a contender for album of the year only one month into 2025.
The first track “Eusexua,” which is both the title track and the first single from the album, is beautifully complicated. The song feels like an experimental fusion of R&B elements and electronic production. Angelic vocals from both FKA twigs and New York-based singer Eartheater in the background create a soundscape that feels entrancing–almost like siren calls.
The next track “Girl Feels Good” contains the lyrics that I feel best exhibits the meaning of “eusexua.” Twigs claims, “A girl feels good, and the world goes ’round/Turn your love up loud to keep the devil down,” celebrating both pleasure and confidence in one’s body. Track 3, titled “Perfect Stranger” was the second single off of “Eusexua,” and is the closest to “typical” pop structure on the album. That said, its fast tempo beat combined with FKA twigs’ vocals, which vary from angelic whispers to more sultry and emotive, highlight a catchy chorus and encourages you to dance.
The final single “Drums of Death” is a collaboration with Welsh producer Koreless. This track is purely exciting to listen to because you discover a new production element every time you listen to it. “Drums of Death” has crazy percussion with distorted bass and synths. It reminds me of work by Arca in its chaos, with the occasional gentle pulses in between darker segments of the song. The following track “Room of Fools” demonstrates what twigs’ states is her inspiration for this album: underground raves in Prague, which she was exposed to when filming “The Crow” in 2022. Have I ever been to an underground rave in Prague? No. Does the song’s pulsating beat that feels both dreamy and kinetic make me feel as though I attend one regularly? Yes! This song is hard for me to describe, but I do my best in saying it’s like Fiona Apple and SOPHIE collaborated, with some vocal stylings of Björk.
The next tracks “Sticky” and “Keep It, Hold It” are slower than the earlier ones, yet both contain FKA twigs’ signature dreamlike weirdness. The lyrics of “Sticky” describe her fear of falling too fast into desire that she may regret, while feeling just as insecure in her body as she is in her choices. “Keep It, Hold It” feels like holding your breath in a moment you never want to end. The song is soft and intimate, and the production is stripped back, with delicate piano and ghostly–almost haunting–synths.
The next two tracks “Childlike Things” and “Striptease” are my favorites from the album. “Childlike Things” feels like opening a child’s music box, except instead of creepy piano keys you get playful percussion and North West singing in Japanese (for some reason?). “Childlike Things” is fun, playful, and lingers as a standout from the album to me because it’s new for twigs. Yes, it’s still weird, dynamic, and unexpected like twigs’ past work, but “Childlike Things” feels lively and full of joy. Twisted joy, yes, but joy nonetheless. “Striptease” is a fantastic song that sounds like pure magic. This is FKA twigs at her most hypnotic—seductive, vulnerable, and completely in control all at once. The production is slow-burning and full of bass, all the while twigs sings barely above a whisper. Still, it feels like she’s pulling you in, like she knows exactly how spellbinding she is (“Woah, watch me flow/Lost in my stripteasе,” she sings).
Lyrically, “24hr Dog” is obsession in its purest form—devotion that’s a little reckless, a little painful, but too deep to ignore. “24hr Dog” reminds me the most of twigs’ sophomore album “MAGDALENE” in its delicate vocals that are a little disorienting and very entrancing. The final track “Wanderlust” is no less mesmerizing than the rest of the album. FKA twigs is raw vocally and lyrically, singing “I get violent in a rage when I’m sat alone/I can criticize the world when I’m sat at home in bed/No makeup on my face/Filter covered up my lows.” The song begins conversationally before twigs returns to her beautiful vocals. The song transitions into a delicate percussion that reminds me of Caroline Polachek’s “Fly To You” featuring Grimes and Dido. “Wanderlust” wraps up the album but leaves you craving more, leaving you with no other option than to play the album over again.
“Eusexua” is splendid and complex, both hazy, hypnotic, and daydream-like but also clear and strong. Overall, “Eusexua” is just impressive. One of the most enchanting aspects of “Eusexua” is FKA twigs’ determination, like with all of her other work, to accompany the music with visuals. So, in addition to my recommendation of listening to “Eusexua,” I also highly recommend watching the accompanying music videos, particularly the music videos for “Drums of Death” and “Striptease.” You won’t be disappointed!