If you had told me two months ago that FKA Twigs’s music would be taking over my Spotify feed and probably, my 2025 Spotify wrapped, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, was most notably known in the past for her dating history with Matty Healy but now, she can be truly recognized for her individualism as a musical artist, especially when it comes to her songs like “Striptease.” The track is off of her latest album EUSEXUA and immediately became a hot topic as soon as it was released. So, what is it about this song that has everyone talking? Allow me to break down the lyrics.
But before I do that, here’s a little background on the project. Jan. 24 marked the release of Twigs’s third studio album, EUSEXUA. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering what this word even means. In a TikTok posted in November 2024, Twigs defined it as, “Eusexua is for the girls who comb their hair at their vanity at night. Eusexua is for the girls who find their true selves under a hard metal silver stiletto on the damp rave floor. Eusexua is for kissing without love and loving without fear. Eusexua is the pinnacle of human experience.” Truly effortlessly summarized by Twigs herself, “eusexua” seems to be a universal feeling felt by all at some point in their lives, where they anticipate pure bliss. That is exactly what this album has proven itself to be, bliss.
In “Striptease,” Twigs dives into almost an experimental type of song style, weaving in club-type music with ethereal elements to truly translate a state of bliss. In this specific instance, one of sexual empowerment and feeling. Opening with the chorus, Twigs teleports listeners to a club-like scene with more fast-paced music and a physical description of the space with the lines, “I’m borderline, it’s getting late, I feel alive/ I wanna show you, I-I-I-I-I/ I’ve got a birthmark on my mind, I think you’ll like it/ Arch my spine, and just a shoulder/ Titalises on me, I ride/ You wanna read my every line and I don’t mind.”
She goes on to intertwine vulnerability with this very physical description of sexuality. In the first verse, Twigs sings, “Opening me feels like a striptease/ Opening me feels like a striptease/ Silk for my tears, and lace for my fears/ I’m stripping apart, till my pain disappears/ Opening me feels like a striptease.” The reference to being vulnerable and opening up to something so sexual as a striptease intertwines the emotionally charged message that emotions are empowering in their own way even though initially, they can be intimidating. She goes on to relate emotions associated with sadness to objects of charm like “silk” and “lace,” further exploring this beauty in pain/vulnerability.
Twigs goes on to vary between singing the chorus and the original verse, changing her vocal tone as the song progresses from a club-like scene, encapsulated by this idea of a “striptease” to something more angelic with her high notes, tying in the theme of vulnerability. The song highlights the album’s overarching message of power through sexuality and gives listeners a chance to identify this as their definition of “Eusexua.”