Defending the “Cellophane” crown…

[Video]
[5.75]

Hannah Jocelyn: By most standards this is a [7]. It’s haunting and sultry, as well as every other adjective that can apply to a Future song or a FKA Twigs song. But FKA Twigs also put out a masterpiece a few months ago in “Cellophane.” The collaboration with Skrillex and Jack Antonoff should ideally result in a professionally produced version of 100 Gecs. Not even Twigs’ increasingly explicit (if predictable) lyrics can make the looped sample and trap drums fresh. Future’s verse, hyped up as “emo” and about his “failures as a man” is especially disappointing, with only a handful of lines reaching the potential (“if you’re praying for me, you’re playing for keeps” is the best). Emo Future, trap Twigs, minimalist Skrillex, and hip-hop Antonoff should make for an interesting mess, but it’s instead a case where almost everyone stretches themselves and no one succeeds. 
[5]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Twigs does her mannered vocalizing, sounding convincing in her grandiose theatrics as usual. The music — a rather tame, diluted take on her sound design-focused electronics — doesn’t elevate the lyricism and performance so much as make me think the dark and moody instrumentation that has long defined her music sounds terribly flat now, especially when juxtaposed with Future’s functional guest spot. I wasn’t in love with “Cellophane” when it dropped, but this makes me appreciate that single all the more.
[4]

Josh Love: As per usual, Twigs sets up an irresistible tension between her arch, brittle avant-R&B and the directness and depth of feeling in her voice and lyrics. Her commitment is such that it can even redeem something as embarrassing as “Once my fruits are for taking,” though I’m not quite sure what Future is here for other than to sell a joke he might not entirely be in on. Twigs is asking for a man to cast off his bullshit façade of macho consumption and give himself over to a true union of souls, and Future superficially seems to be struggling to be worthy of that request, but if you’re paying attention he’s still just wrapped up in himself (“Watch me drown in my pain”,”Pray for my sins, make me stronger”).
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: The most I’ve liked a Twigs song in some time, probably because it’s less sterile in music —  a study in soprano and danger, wonderfully ominous — and conceit, Craig David flipped and made artsy, sacred and vulnerable. But as usual, the track meanders, and Future in particular is lost amid this terrain.
[6]

Alfred Soto: Data tells me that I’ve heard “Holy Terrain” four times. This can’t be. I can’t hum a single part, nor has FKA Twigs delivered a performance no less squeaky than than usual. Future’s presence is supposed to symbolize something or other. 
[3]

Juan F. Carruyo: FKA Twigs’ breathy singing style fits perfectly into the current ASMR trend going on right now in the pop music landscape. When she soars above the droning backing track she sounds beautifully hurt. Then Future comes and takes it home (with patois included).
[7]

Nortey Dowuona: FKA Twigs finally swerves back from the edge, her voice plaintive and trembling, yet still resolute. Low, fuzzy bass lurks behind the ghostly, curtain synths, while clumped, cramped drums trip up Future, who pleads and begs for her l–
[7]

Vikram Joseph: FKA Twigs still sounds bracing and distinctive, even doing trap-pop. This is elevated by a dense, murky, claustrophobic soundscape and by its defiant weirdness, by the way it resists obvious hooks and still entwines itself around you like a plant in a horror movie. When it comes to Future’s rap, it feels like the same has happened to him — it’s delivered like he’s suspended in mid-air, completely obviated of his own volition, and it kinda works. So when Twigs asks, “will you still be there for me, once I’m yours to obtain?”, you feel she already knows what the answer is.
[7]