FKA Twigs Lets Her Projections Run Wild on “Perfect Stranger”

The theme of projection in romance seems to be trending at the moment. At least if one takes Dua Lipa’s “Illusion,” Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux and, now, FKA Twigs’ “Perfect Stranger” as signs o’ the times. Granted, “Perfect Stranger,” the latest single from Eusexua (following up the song of the same name) is likely to be far more warmly received than the sequel to Joker, even if both pop culture offerings focus on how projecting an idea of who someone is onto them without really knowing who they are is the key to stoking “romantic feeling.” Because once you find out more, you’re certain to lose the same level of fervor you had when you could envision your “crush” to be exactly who you thought they were/wanted them to be (just ask Lady Gaga’s version of Harley Quinn a.k.a. “Lee Quinzel”).

Reteaming with director Jordan Hemingway (who also directed “Eusexua”) for the video, Twigs lays out that premise by offering up a series of imagined scenarios with different people in various “box rooms” (which are eventually presented as said “boxes” via the pan out method, sort of like the presentation of the rooms in the “dollhouse” [that turns out to be inside of a snow globe, for added Black Mirror effect] of Taylor Swift’s “Lover” video). In the first room, she’s on her own, sporting what will now forever be known as the “eusexua haircut” when fans look back on this era. It is in this state of aloneness that she can let her projections run wild, and this is conveyed by the camera panning down to reveal the first “fantasy”: Twigs loving up on some similar-looking woman (at least in terms of having a thin frame) as both wear next to nothing. After all, you can’t spell “eusexua” without “sex.”

At the start of the song, Twigs already announced, “I don’t know the name of the town you’re from [in contrast to Lana Del Rey singing, “I come from a small town, how ‘bout you?” on “Let Me Love You Like A Woman”]/Your star sign or the school you failed/I don’t know and I don’t care.” The reason she doesn’t care, obviously, is because to know anything concrete about a person is to have them demystified. “Debunked,” as it were. And since Eusexua is an album inspired by the grimy, no-holds-barred, no-inhibitions-left dance music that Twigs heard while going to various underground clubs in Prague (while filming The Crow, the only movie more condemned than Joker: Folie à Deux this year), the sound and motif of “Perfect Stranger” caters to one’s sentiments while experiencing a night out in this type of environment.

Drenched in the sweaty debauchery of the dance floor, it’s no wonder Twigs also insists, “I’d rather know nothing than all the lies/Just give me the person you are tonight.” As mentioned above, this smacks of Dua Lipa’s “Illusion,” during which she sings, “Yeah, I just wanna dance with the illusion.” Being that both British chanteuses favor music tailored to “the clerb” (Charli XCX isn’t the only one), it’s to be expected that some of their lyrical themes would align. And this year, each prefers dancing with their illusions/projections of someone.

The camera pans sideways next to reveal a version of FKA Twigs cooking in the kitchen (albeit ineptly). Even though this scene doesn’t coincide with the line, “I don’t know the food that’s your favorite now/Your work or what you’re working around/I don’t know and I don’t care/And that’s okay with me/To live my life with some mystery/Please don’t say that I must know.” In point of fact, Twigs’ entire thesis statement on this song is in direct contrast to the overexposed nature of living in the internet-fueled world of today, where no mystery at all is left about what a person is like. Or rather, what the image they want to project is like. Maybe that’s why Twigs goes for a 90s feel with the song’s production (courtesy of Koreless, Stargate, Ojivolta and Twigs herself) in addition to the aesthetic of the video, which could, at times, double as a CK One commercial with all its “slick” panning.

Twigs then gets more psychological by presenting a twin self in the same room with her, almost as though to subliminally indicate that perhaps by not fully knowing herself, she can keep thriving and surviving. Either that, or she’s determined to promote the notion of sologamy through cloning. But that doesn’t appear to be the case in another “box room scenario” wherein FKA is the mother to a baby, her husband or baby daddy sitting solemnly behind her as he gives her what looks like a really bad massage whilst she rocks the child in her arms (in truth, it looks like something out of a 90s Janet Jackson video). The camera then pans horizontally back over to the first pair of “perfect strangers” we were introduced to (Twigs and the woman who has the same thin frame she does) before panning down to reveal a new “box room” altogether. This one being decidedly S&M-centric (sort of like the “box-filled” Madonna video for “Human Nature”—but then, this song is much more influenced by “Beautiful Stranger”).

Considering Twigs used this particular scene as a teaser for the video, it’s likely among her favorites. And why wouldn’t it be? She gets to wear scanty leather lingerie while walking on a mini treadmill, of sorts (clearly, Charli brought the treadmill back with the “360” video), as her dom gives her a stinging spanking with a riding crop. At which point she pronounces, “I love the danger/You’re the perfect stranger.” Quite the opposite of the millennial mantra, “Stranger = danger.”

The camera pans down once more to unveil the final “box room” setup: Twigs in an orgiastic, tribal-themed sort of scenario. Writhing in ecstasy amid her final projection, the end of the video shows all of the “box rooms” stacked atop each other and side-by-side (again, it makes for the aforementioned “Lover” dollhouse effect). All of these perfect strangers prompting Twigs to announce, “Oh, we can make it work/What we don’t know will never hurt/‘Cause you’re a stranger, so you’re perfect.” That is, until you get to know said stranger.