As a woman who has been through the wringer with exes like Robert Pattinson and Shia LaBeouf, if anyone is qualified to talk about love being a killer, it’s FKA Twigs. And sure, while she got in-depth about the subject on Magdalene with songs like “cellophane,” Twigs has taken her exploration one step further on “killer,” which, indeed, does accuse a man of being just that when he willfully decides to decimate a woman’s heart.
As FKA explained in a caption regarding the lyrical content on her Instagram, “It’s dangerous to be a woman in love when, at its worst, the effects of heartbreak can define one’s trajectory much more than the beauty of the love itself. In my song ‘killer’ I explore this concept. The navigation, the hunt and the kill. The death of promises, dreams and the future that was once promised. But like the wildest plucked roses, I find myself more beautiful delicately wilted, in shadow, forced solace, darkened at the edges and achingly thirsting to be tended to again.”
Of course, there’s always a chance (especially when taking into account how men prefer younger snatch) that a woman might never be “tended to” again after investing so much of her time in a bloke who opted to cast her aside in the end. Which is also why Twigs explained in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that when you fall in love, you’re essentially giving someone a box with your happiness in it and they become, in part, responsible for being the keeper of that happiness. While some might say that feels like a “codependent” argument, the truth of the matter is that relationships, at their best, do rely on a certain amount of harmonious interdependence. This isn’t to say someone can’t still be their own person and have their own separate pursuits, but in the present epoch, it’s as though all traces of “counting on somebody” in love have vanished—what with the ease of simply ghosting or, barring that, divorcing.
In early 2021, Twigs appeared for an interview with Gayle King to discuss her lawsuit against LaBeouf for verbal and physical abuse (including sexual battery), during which she expressed sentiments very similar to what she’s addressing on “killer,” specifically noting, “I was told that I was special and to look after my heart and the light inside my chest. When I was with Shia, that light just got blown out and I didn’t think that that could happen.” With the purpose of her coming forward being to help other women recognize the signs of abuse, Twigs specifically highlighted the lovebombing and gaslighting tendencies of her ex, quintessential abuser traits that are clearly still haunting her on “killer” when she sings, “You got me questionin’ what to believe.”
With the song first being previewed in a petite video snippet Twigs posted in early June as she made out with Elite actor Arón Piper—presumably for the inevitable music video (or not)—it feels pointed that she should cast someone who looks so similar to LaBeouf. The symbolism of her light being “blown out,” or at least obstructed, is also manifest in the single’s artwork, which features Twigs in “Madonna True Blue” pose in front of a sun that’s being eclipsed or, that’s right, blown out.
Sonically reminiscent of Lykke Li’s “sex money feelings die” during the intro, the production from Jonny Coffer and El Guincho (who also worked with Twigs on Caprisongs, in addition to having credits with the beloved Rosalía) evokes an ethereal mood that’s antithetical to the concept of murder—even if we’re talking on a figurative level. With an almost Lana Del Rey-esque sense of drama, Twigs explores how unlike a kiss it feels when someone hits you as she demands, “Since when did hurt become deliberate?/Heal us.” Sometimes, however, there’s too much damage done by the other person to ever heal. Yet another reason why Twigs belts out, “I don’t wanna die for love/But a holy love/That one and only love/My tears are worthy of.” Thus far, it would appear no one has been worthy.
And yet, perhaps because the pool of “hetero” men to choose from has become so increasingly scant, Twigs discusses the phenomenon of women trying to tell themselves that a relationship feels right when it patently doesn’t. So it is that she regrets, “Dancin’ in the dark, I can feel it in my heart, you’re a killer/But I didn’t wanna call it.” This echoes Madonna’s 1984 track, “Pretender,” when she describes, “I like the way he moved across the floor/And when he danced with me/I knew he wanted more/But in the dark, things happened much too fast/I should’ve stopped him then/I knew it wouldn’t last.” Twigs adds to her own familiar tale with, “Something in the way you put your hands on my waist, pulled me nearer/No, I never wanna call it/Didn’t wanna call it, didn’t wanna call it/Took your love for righteous and now I’m in a crisis with a killer.” Evelyn in American Psycho knows the plight.
Twigs then offers a bridge with Britney-inspired implications as she croons, “When I doubt myself around you I look at pictures of me before you/Girl gone wild/I’ll shave my hair off to get you out of my head.” A similar need to “wash that man right out of her hair,” as Nellie Forbush would put it, also came in “Tears in the Club” when she sang, “I wanna get you out of my hips, my thighs/My hair, my eyes, my late-night cries.” Easier said than done, bien sûr.
And it becomes even more of a challenge for Twigs to do so with the recent announcement that the lawsuit she filed in late 2020 against LaBeouf will get its trial date in April of 2023. A legal battle that might not bode well considering the “Amber Heard setback” with regard to how men at large have used her as the exemplar for “don’t believe women.” Least of all when it comes to #MeToo-inspired allegations. Especially since she, like Heard, has announced her plans to use the financial winnings from the case to donate to charities that support survivors of domestic abuse (in Heard’s scenario, the settlement from her divorce was pledged to ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles).
But one would be undeniably cruel to question the legitimacy of Twigs’ emotional damage when they hear “killer”—in addition to her declaration back in 2021, “What I went through with my abuser is, hands down, the worst thing [I’ve experienced] in the whole of my life. Recovering has been the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do.”
Maybe that’s part of why the song sounds like it could be straight off The Crow reboot’s soundtrack (yes, FKA Twigs will be starring in the upcoming new iteration of the film). One could also see it effortlessly fitting into whatever vampire movie Twigs ought to star in (no Pattinson correlation intended). But regardless of what movie the song might end up playing in one day, the only thing that’s for sure is Twigs knows exactly what she’s talking about when she likens a relationship to a murderee/murderer schema.
