Gigi Perez’s “Twister” Is a Swirling Mystical Ballad Confronting New Worlds and Auto-Tune

Deep on her debut album, Gigi Perez added a new layer to her already dynamic voice: Auto-Tune. The singer/songwriter is known for her captivating songwriting, vivid emotional lyricism, and unique vocal delivery, and her newest instrument provides a brand-new view of the artist.

follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist

Stream: “Twister” – Gigi Perez

Gigi Perez was released from her record label in March 2024. In the year since, she’s written numerous queer ballads embracing her own sexuality and the dynamic relationships around her.

Independently released, she found massive success with her 2024 single, “Sailor Song,” which: Went viral on TikTok, got remixed by The Chainsmokers and TWINSICK, put her as the target of a few religious communities, and landed a new record deal in September 2024.

Her debut album At the Beach, in Every Life was released in April 2025. While much of her career has been built around her voice, relatable storytelling, and an acoustic guitar, one song immediately deviated from that formula: “Twister.” From the very first note, you can tell you’re in for a different experience. There’s a swirling synth, which has never been found anywhere in Perez’s catalogue. It’s illuminated with drums lifted straight out of ’80s clubs, exceptional amounts of keys, and most notably, Perez’s own Auto-Tuned voice.

At the Beach, in Every Life - Gigi Perez — At the Beach, in Every Life – Gigi Perez

It’s hard to understate how radically different “Twister” is from the singles that got her re-signed to a major label. While most of her album features her voice and a stripped-down guitar, “Twister” teeters on the line to become overwhelming. The second chorus sounds far more hyper-pop than singer/songwriter, almost as if lifted from a basement club littered with neon lights. Synths rattle in every direction, the drum machine plays at an unrecognizable pace, and her guitar is distorted to sound akin to a banjo. It’s daring, it’s different, and it provides a brand new angle into Gigi Perez’s ability to blend into a different sonic space limited by her own instrumentation.

Lyrically, we’re embracing elements of fantasy and new worlds. It’s a stark departure from the intense yearning and queer heartache Perez is known for.

Twister swept away your house
A seed inside you starts to sprout
You walk away so clean
The witch still meets you in night dreams
She’s sacred and so white
Asked you if you maybe might be
Looking for Oz

Seeds sprouting doubt, witches dressed in white, and potentially the salvation of Oz. It would be easy to succumb to the darkness in a twister or disaster like this, but Perez flips the ‘wicked witch’ into a mythical and welcoming person. It could be a metaphor, it could be a tribute to the many witches in Oz, or it could be a manifestation of growing out of disaster. In the second verse, our hero talks with a long, black, and striped snake that asks:

“Is there someone you’re looking to blame?”

The song culminates in an explosion of sound, easily the fastest and most dynamic refrain in Perez’s young career. She asks, begs, pleads, six times: Are you looking for God? It’s full of desperation, rather than the optimism full of looking for Oz. It’s almost an apology to oneself, rather than succumbing to internal guilt. Looking for God or pleading for them might absolve that guilt, but Perez leaves us hanging.

Gigi Perez Isn’t Afraid of Grief; She Welcomes It

:: INTERVIEW ::

In a short 2 minutes and 44 seconds, we’re brought so deep into Gigi Perez’s mind I can’t help but wonder about her own relationship to religion, love, loss, and how it all might intersect with an innate ability to turn the Auto-Tune up.

There’s no questioning her ability to write gut-wrenching stories about relationships, love, and situationships, but we’ve now seen a glance at her ability to write mystical tales. It’s unclear if this will be a trend as the style is isolated on “Twister.” It’s clear there’s an ability to make hyper-pop adjacent tunes, deeply expand the lyrical content, and embrace new instruments.

We can only hope to hear this style broadened in Gigi Perez’s catalogue as she continues to mature as an artist.

— —