FKA twigs' 'M3LL155X' is a Confidant Surprise Release

It's been just over a year since FKA twigs released her debut album, "LP1", which launched the twisted pop and R&B singer into a wide audience. Lauded by critics, placing in top 10 lists across the web, and somewhat commercially successful (it landed at the no. 30 spot on Billboard 200 - an interesting placement for a record so weird), twigs' cool factor had a meteoritic rise, becoming one of the most interesting musicians to bridge the gap between pop an indie music.

Between the release of "LP1" and her surprise new 5-track EP "M3LL155X" (pronounced Melissa) twigs, 27, won over fans with her celebrity: photo shoots wearing beautiful avant-garde fashion, becoming engaged to "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson and capturing the zeitgeist by expertly voguing at her shows, which allowed the Tumblr-generation to .gif-asize her compelling moves. twigs' queerness has perhaps been the most interesting part of her music and gay culture has never been more influentially apparent than on "M3LL155X." At this point in her career, twigs has solidified herself as the underworld's Madonna who came to our world from the year 3015.

Before her latest effort dropped on Aug. 13 (a "Beyonce"-esque surprise release), twigs hinted at the project when she debuted its single "Figure 8" on Apple Music's new radio station Beats 1 with DJ Zane Lowe. She explained the track was inspired by voguing and the dance's culture, and that it was created about five months after "LP1." She added she was interested in figure 8, a dance move, because it "represented eternity," going on to say she started to vogue under dancer Derrick Prodigy. twigs said he taught her the importance of eternity through voguing and how every hand motion is a figure eight that flows into the next move.

"I was inspired by that concept... at the time I just felt like at any minute everything in my life would just fall apart, despite in a way being so lucky to have released a record and having so much success, but there was another side of me that felt like everything was shattering," she said. "'Figure 8' is a reflection of my mind-state, and landing in New York and finding something I felt I could hold on to keep me sane. I could just practice my figure 8s in a mirror in a hotel room or listen to vogue music or look at vogue legends on the Internet."

"Figure 8" is dark - even for twigs, whose music catalog doesn't contain any chipper tunes you'd play at a summer BBQ. But what's most striking is twigs' vocals. Throughout her previous album and EPs, her voice was mostly altered, twisted, pitched up or down, and buried under the mix, allowing the excellent production to rise to the surface and be the selling point of twigs' music. While there are times on "Figure 8" where twigs' voice is tinkered with (towards the end of the track her pseudo-rap sounds demented) she's never sounded so confidant. Her voice is on display, as weird and ethereal as it may be, and that is a conscious effort that's highlighted in "M3LL155X."

On "In Time" twigs delivers some her most aggressive lyrics: "Every day, every day, you be testing my sane, you've got a goddamned nerve." It's a haunting song that comes off the heels of "I'm Your Doll," a sad love song with lyrics written by an alternate universe Taylor Swift who instead of makes pop-country songs, was really into Nine Inch Nails and Bjork. It shouldn't be surprising to learn that "I'm Your Doll" was written when twigs was 18 and an early version of the song was created in a batch of what she called "really bad demos."

"M3LL155X" is a smart move forward for twigs. It's a bridge, connecting her debut album to wherever she's headed next. "Figure 8" and "I'm Your Doll" would fit perfectly on "LP1" but "Glass & Patron" and "Mothercreep" offer flashes of what fans can expect on "LP2" - more straightforward lyrics with a confidant twigs not shying away from her voice. ("Glass & Patron," which may be the best track on the EP, is about as pop twigs is going to get.) Production remains minimal and it's the backbone of her concept. But instead of sticking with past producers, specifically out producer Arca who has been near synonymous with twigs, the singer reached out to a handful of new musicians, most notably Boots, the mysterious producer who contributed to Beyonce's self-titled 2013 album.

Along with her new EP, twigs also released a 16-minute video that features her new music. The clip includes a creepy old woman in high fashion, fashion icon Michele Lamy and twigs, who takes on the role as a sex doll and later on is a judge at an epic vogue battle. twigs calls the video "an aggressive statement conceptualising the process of feeling pregnant with pain, birthing creativity and liberation."

This companion piece pulls the entire concept of "M3LL155X" together: Like Beyonce's Sasha Fierce, Nicki Minaj's Roman Zolanski or David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, Melissa is an alter ego for twigs. It's her female energy and twigs once again spins the experience of being a femal, femininity and queerness on its head: "M3LL155X" is an aggressive, visceral and cerebral effort and female power has never felt so confidant.