Breaking her back just to carry the boys (yet again), FKA twigs took all of thirty seconds to steal the show on Ty Dolla $ign’s latest effort “Ego Death”, a feat made all the more impressive considering the company Ty was keeping. Rubbing shoulders with none other than Kanye West (as well as uncredited guest vocals from Baltimore artist serpentwithfeet), the queen of alternative R&B showed us how it’s done with an ethereal delivery that curled effortlessly around the track’s driving beat.

Naming the song as his “best work yet”, Ty Dolla $ign’s new single is an infectiously danceable hip house throwback, with Skrillex’s production channeling the essence of classic samples from Queen Latifah’s “Dance for Me” and Ultra Naté’s “Free”, as well as Mucho Michie’s house remix of Ralphi Rosario and Xaviera Gold’s “You Used to Hold Me”. Playing on the title’s obvious narcotic associations, his verse and twigs’ mirror each other and bookend the song, using ego death as a stand-in for the loss of self one undergoes when in a relationship, and the rebuilding of the self necessary after it ends; Ty still hurting having been left alone, twigs already planning to “rise back up”. 

<3 @tydollasign @Skrillex @serpentwithfeet @kanyewest pic.twitter.com/iTA0UWxouy

— FKA twigs (@FKAtwigs) July 1, 2020

Debuting a full length version way back at Coachella 2019, a leaked mix of “Ego Death” had been floating around the web since March before its official release yesterday just in time for the summer. It’s frankly a tragedy we’ll have to wait so long for it to hit the dance floor. Speaking in a press release, Ty explained that the delay had come about since he “just had to find the right time to put it out”, adding that a new album was on the way.

Despite recording his verse well over a year ago, Kanye has coincidentally just announced his own upcoming album God’s Country after he put the single “Wash Us In The Blood” with Travis Scott on Tuesday. As for new output from twigs we’ll have to wait and see; it took five years for MAGDALENE, the follow up to her acclaimed debut, to arrive last November. But seeing as she teased a new mixtape earlier this year, there’s a good chance it won’t be too long til her next project. Listen to “Ego Death”’s official audio below: