Exzenya’s new single “Intermittent Love” kicks the door wide open with a heavy, hypnotic and unsettling bassline and a snapping rhythm that feels both. There’s this gritty, glitchy buzz running underneath, like static you can’t quite shake, and it sets the stage for her deep, gravelly voice to come pouring. At first, she sings with a kind of dejected, yearning restraint. But halfway through, her delivery sharpens, her urgency rises, and suddenly you’re right there in the heat of her emotional storm.
Lyrically, “Intermittent Love” is a masterclass in translating psychological theory into something you can feel. Exzenya takes the concept of intermittent reinforcement, a behavioral cycle of unpredictable affection and punishment, and breathes ache into it. One moment, the lyrics recall tenderness and intimacy (“You used to touch me with strong hands / Like my body was a wonderland”), and the next, they plunge into cold withdrawal and cutting words (“Then refuse to touch me at all / Just what were you portraying?”). She refrains, “Why did you do what you had done?” incantatorily, like the unanswered questions that haunt anyone who’s been trapped in that push-pull dynamic.
What really makes the track stick, though, is its duality. The beat lulls you in with a sultry groove, while the words claw at your chest. It’s moody enough for a late-night slow burn, but emotionally charged enough to leave you staring at the ceiling long after it ends. Exzenya mixes pop, R&B, and soul, but here, the glue is her direct, unflinching storytelling. “Intermittent Love” is an unmasking. And once you’ve heard it, good luck shaking it off.
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Review by: Naomi Joan