On Eusexua, FKA twigs depicts a transcendent journey of hedonism, reflection and the yearning for human connection.
The third studio album from London-born Tahlia Debrett Barnett – and her first since 2019’s acclaimed Magdalene – is a hypnotic tapestry of the euphoric and dysphoric.
Foregrounding the themes of the collection, title track ‘Eusexua’ opens the album with a pulsating beat, recalling the quickened pulse and the techno vibrations of a dancefloor. She asks, ‘do you feel alone?’ and ‘wonder how you feel’, contemplating the physical and social barriers between one another. If this album is a journey, its destination is pinpointed in ‘Eusexua’ – interconnection.
twigs’ solution to her loneliness is found in the anonymity of nightclubs and the fleeting arms of strangers. The reflective quality of ‘Eusexua’ is hardened by its successor, ‘Girl Feels Good’. The tone is murkier, with the intent to “turn your love up loud to keep the devil down”; she is on a mission to “feel good” and escape her problems.
‘Drums of Death’ and ‘Childlike Things’ are more overtly hedonistic, although these songs of euphoric abandon are sobered by melancholic and disenchanted tracks like ‘Perfect Stranger’ and ‘Keep it, Hold it’. twigs lays bare the transitory nature of escapism, and the eventuality that issues shrouded by night will resurface in the morning.
‘Striptease’ marks one of Eusexua‘s most striking moments. It combines the sexual, carnal aspects of human connection with both the intellectual and emotional; merging the two contrasting tones of ‘Drums of Death’ and ‘Keep it, Hold it’ in the process. “It’s getting late // I feel alive” Twigs sings, likening revealing her inner world to the act of undressing, exposing her vulnerabilities bit by anticipatory bit.
The chorus, ‘opening me feels like a striptease’, is particularly deft. Besides its blatant sexual connotations, the macabre imagery of surgically opening her lurks underneath. Unlike a striptease, this insinuation is painful and invasive, suggesting that the act of ‘opening’ her is pleasurable to her sexual partner, while to the narrator’s detriment. These lyrics – pertaining to sexual violation and exploitation – are particularly salient with the forthcoming trial against ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf commencing in September 2025, in which Barnett accuses him of sexual battery and assault.
Pairing sex with pain and implying that women are inherently objects of desire is echoed throughout the album’s 2019 predecessor, Magdalene. The title track of which, ‘Mary Magdalene’, references the supposed biblical prostitute, describing her as a “creature of desire” – a subhuman thing made to please.
Eusexua is a stunning, strobic compilation. Flickering between euphoria and disillusionment, it flashes demons before shrouding them in escapism and detachment. The album offers a thrilling glimpse into FKA twigs’ movement towards the techno scene, while remaining a powerful testament to the candid and introspective lyricism that has cemented her reputation.
