While Babygirl, tragically, did not receive the Academy Award recognition it deserved on the sonic front (Sky Ferreira’s “Leash” was robbed—robbed!), it seems as though it’s yielded another song unwittingly inspired by the “predilections” of its main character, Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman). Because, while Madonna (and specifically, her “Express Yourself,” Erotica and “Human Nature” eras) might have been an undeniable influence on the “thesis statement” brought to life onscreen by writer-director Halina Reijn, there’s now no ignoring how tailor-made FKA Twigs’ “24hr Dog,” the tenth (and penultimate) track on Eusexua, is for this film.
Although Twigs might have come up with the song on a parallel plane, not yet aware of Babygirl’s existence while creating the album, it’s almost as though she subconsciously tapped into Reijn’s mind (de facto, Romy’s) while creating the lyrics to this ethereal, sprawling track. A song that, like good, transformative sex, allows the listener to get lost in it, forgetting where they are—almost forgetting about time and space entirely.
The meandering sonic composition, co-produced by Koreless (who has a producer credit on every song from Eusexua) and Marius De Vries (who, notably, helped co-write some of the surreal lyrics on Madonna’s “Bedtime Story”), has stood out to no greater a musical authority than Imogen Heap, who interviewed Twigs about the record and remarked as a lead-in to her attraction to the song, “We go where there’s a pull, we go where there’s an intuition, or a feeling that’s slightly vague.” This “vague feeling” also applying to what ends up magnetically pulling Romy toward Samuel (Harris Dickinson), the new intern at Tensile, the warehouse-oriented robotics company where Romy serves as the icy and, er, impenetrable CEO. Her high-powered lifestyle is, of course, something that any outsider might assume makes her just as “high-powered” in the bedroom.
Alas, it’s the one place where Romy just wants to be told what to do. To, for once, just stop worrying about how to direct someone and, instead, be directed herself. In speaking of this kind of “phenomenon” to Heap, Twigs explained that the joy of submitting (regardless of gender) stems from how “incredible [it is to be] completely submissive to somebody and having that trust and that submission of your ego, whether that is in a romantic partnership or even creatively.” For Romy, it’s less about romance and creativity than it is sexual satisfaction—something she’s never had in her entire life, least of all from her vanilla-in-bed theater director husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas). And this is a large part of why Samuel holds such appeal for tapping into this “unvarnished” sexual side of herself that Romy has never been able to express with another person—only with herself whilst wanking to “fetish porn.” Because, yes, her particular tastes are deemed a fetish rather than “normal.”
Knowing that this is still how society feels about her “preferences,” it brings Romy to tears as she confesses what’s been happening to Jacob, telling him she wishes she could be normal, that she could be what he likes. It takes her a while to understand that there’s nothing wrong with who she is or what she wants. A revelation that can best be summed up by Twigs’ earnest “24hr Dog” lyrics, “I’m a slave to your design/So work me to satisfy the core of your mind/Right, so whatchu wa’ me to do/Your love chores distract me from my worst flaws/Setting free/The softest part of me/Gets dangerous sometimes/Feel guilty that it’s getting me high.”
Indeed, to a certain extent, part of what turns Romy on so much about her submissive tryst with Samuel is the guilt she feels about it. For, as Catholics well know, shame can be an aphrodisiac in and of itself. And as Samuel proceeds to tell her what to do that first time in the dingy, poorly-lit hotel room he commands her to meet him at, one could easily imagine Twigs soundtracking the scene with, “When I submit to you this way/I’m a dog for you/It’s true/I’m just this way for you/I bend more/Than what I thought was possible/Me, in shapes that make you pleased.”
That a dog serves as the primary symbol of Babygirl (there’s a reason, after all, that Sky Ferreira went with a title like “Leash” to play during the credits) only adds to how apropos “24hr Dog” is to the film. Even more than, say, The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Though Pop did once say of the song, “Have you ever seen, like, a really good-looking girl, really nicely dressed, and she’s walking down the street with her dog, right? And, like, her dog is…intimate with her body, and she likes him and everything. Basically, it’s the idea of I want to unite with your body. I don’t wanna talk about literature with you or judge you as a person. I wanna dog you.” That’s essentially the extent of Samuel and Romy’s attraction to one another.
But there’s more nuance to it than what Pop described. For, in a certain regard, both parties are being submissive toward one another in their way, with Samuel adhering (however insubordinately) to Romy’s demands at work. From both characters’ perspectives, it is as Twigs says: “There is something so incredible about being completely submissive to somebody and having that trust and that submission of your ego, whether that is in a romantic partnership or even creatively.”
Building on the notion of creative submission, Twigs added, “It’s why sometimes I’ve really loved being in films recently because I just sometimes think, ‘Oh you know what? Like, I’m a toolbox, just use it.’ You know, I like to turn up on set and, you know, the director has his vision, the director has his script and it’s allowing myself to at points just to be, like, the conduit for that story. And there’s something so empowering and powerful about that.” Except, of course, in the case of The Crow. Where Babygirl is concerned, however, there is something empowering and powerful about it. That is, how Nicole Kidman submitted fully to Reijn’s vision, as much as Romy submitted to Samuel’s.
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