FKA Twigs
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FKA Twigs isn’t done living in Eusexua just yet. The avant-garde songstress kicked off this year with her third studio album inspired by the thumping beats of European nightclubs, and now, she’s closing out the year with Eusexua Afterglow, an appropriately titled new album first conceived as an deluxe version of the original.
Simply put, both Twigs and her fans wanted more from her mind after first hearing Eusexua and continuing to live in that world throughout the year, including on her Eusexua Tour across Europe in the spring.
“I can’t explain it. Sometimes you put out an album, and then it feels like you need to stop for a while. But with Eusexua, it felt like it was still growing. The message was still spreading, and people still wanted a deeper understanding of what it was,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “When you dance, it’s really good to know the rules and the fundamentals, like with ballet. But once you know ballet, then you can mess it up and let go. You can dance with more freedom. That’s kind of what Afterglow is. It’s Eusexua, but it’s wild, sensual, and irresistible. It’s meant to quench a thirst.”
Twigs found her solace in techno clubs across Europe before recording Eusexua, and Eusexua Afterglow is packed with a variety of sounds meant to spur movement regardless of beats per minute. “Sometimes I go out to reset my brain a little bit. Obviously, I love what I do so much. I love being an artist. But sometimes, it just gets unnecessarily stressful,” she said. “So when I go out, it makes me put everything into perspective and realize what’s really important in my life, who I want to be and who I want to be around.”
Tracks like “Hard,” the previously released “Predictable Girl,” and the PinkPantheress collab “Wild and Alone” align more with the classic Eusexua sound, while the multifaceted artist slows it down for more pensive outings like “Touch a Girl” and “Piece of Mine.” She even dabbles in the sounds of the LGBTQ+ ballroom scene on “Sushi” and closes it out with the distorted ballad “Stereo Boy.”
In the end, Eusexua Afterglow fulfills its promise as a sort of after-hours sequel or sibling to the original project, but it simultaneously is able to stand on its own as a fully realized FKA Twigs project.
“Afterglow feels like a shimmering reflection of our community that we have been building since my first release [EP1] in 2012,” she wrote on Instagram of her legions of fans. “I have never worked in this way before so wild and on the go and it’s been so beautiful.”