On April 24, 2019, FKA Twigs released her first song in three years, Cellophane. It is alluring, chilling, and mesmerizing Twig's hypnotic voice singing of a relationship in the public eye. If I had to describe this song in one word it would be yearning. The first verse 'Didn't I do it for ya?
Why don't I do it for ya?
Why won't you do it for me?
When all I do is for ya'
portrays Twigs wondering if she did enough for her partner while questioning her worth as a human. The song was accompanied by a music video opening with Twigs performing on a strip pole presenting her vulnerability to a faceless crowd cheering at her. This show of vulnerability cannot be understated as previously the singer had to undergo surgery for six fibroid tumors to be removed from her uterus. As well she was faced with intense public scrutiny and criticism for her relationship and eventual separation with actor Robert Patterson. The pole embodying her feelings of always being in the spotlight and constantly having to perform for the people around her just to prove her love to her partner. While climbing the pole she is greeted by a winged creature with multiple faces eventually revealing to her own. She puts her foot into the creature's face shattering it then subsequently falls from the pole. This represents something inside her being crushed, whether that is emotional or mental, or even her soul. While falling into darkness rapidly spinning around the pole she quietly repeats the first verse almost sounding like she is pleading for her lover to answer the same question she asked, in the beginning, Didn't I do it for ya?, Why don't I do it for ya?, Why won't you do it for me? , When all I do is for ya'
to me, it signifies the sudden end of a serious relationship. She then hits the muddy ground and exhales which could be interoperated as the final moments of darkness before healing. She ends the song with a simple yet cryptic message They're watching us, They're hating, They're waiting, And hoping I'm not enough. Cellophane is a masterpiece of self-reliance not by showing how someone can withstand pain and persevere but by showing what it can do to someone, how it can skew and warped the perception of one's self. Twigs showed us the pain she had to persevere going through darkness and sorrow to end up in a better place. She had to crawl herself out of agony to become a new being and accept that those experiences changed her but do not define her which in my opinion is the highest form of self-reliance.