EP Review: Mckayla Twiggs Claims Her Pop Girl Persona on “WHAT A GIRL WANTS”

Written by Sofia Treviño

Photo courtesy of Spotify

Toward the end of 2025, Mckayla Twiggs started promoting her first single through short MacBook Photo Booth videos. Under a vibrant purple filter, jewels sparkled on her face, and a feather boa clung around her neck, truly capturing the essence of 2016. 

After months of teasing and attracting people clamouring for an early fan ticket, on March 20, 2026, Twiggs dropped her first EP, WHAT A GIRL WANTS. In just 13 minutes, five songs bring Twiggs forth into the musician spotlight. Since releasing the titular single, “What A Girl Wants,” in December, the track has already racked up over a million streams. 

However, Twiggs didn’t come from absolutely nowhere; she previously acted and, most notably, starred on Broadway in Les Misérables. Now, the 21-year-old lives in Los Angeles, using her singing and acting skills to create her own music.

Her debut EP forms a bubbly pink world full of heavy synths and layered vocals. The tracks are self-assured and display lively, youthful energy evocative of Addison Rae’s self-titled album. With just a few songs, Twiggs offers addictive, on-replay hits that arc from finding an attraction to someone, exuding confidence, and wrap with a more sincere side to her.

“When Did You Get So Hot?” opens the show, where Twiggs suffers an apocalyptic sensation over starting to find a friend attractive. Breathy whispers repeat the track title over pulsating synths. Twiggs sings that she can’t continue a friendship with someone she’s attracted to, comparing it to the world coming to an end.  

Witty lyrics come through in “Golddigger,” with Twigg replying to someone’s accusations of her being a golddigger with a catchy hook. She stands on the grounds of working hard to gain her own successes, while taking a dig at the judgmental person. “How could I be a gold digger? / If I was, then I would go bigger / Than go home with you.” 

Twiggs channels the thank u, next era of Ariana Grande on “In Love With Your Girlfriend.” With a high, buttery voice, she belts her yearning emotions for someone else’s girlfriend. She seductively sings, “I can tell that she needs me bad,” as a steady bass and low snare hold down her cocky attitude.

“What A Girl Wants” lives as the shining star of the bunch. Here, Twiggs exists at the height of her exaggerated pop girl persona, surrounded by glitter, frills, and riches. Over heavy dance-inducing electronic keyboards, Twiggs purrs her chorus repeatedly, “Baby, come and put your money on it / You can bet that I know what a girl wants / Put the gold card satisfaction on the dash / Make it happen, I know what a girl wants.” The lyrics put on a show of Twiggs knowing her goals and showing she knows exactly how to achieve them.

The EP rounds off with “In?timate,” where Twiggs unravels some of her boldness and wonders if she can get emotionally closer to someone. She performs softer here over thudding bass kicks and photo flashing sounds. Lines of “Will you let me in?” circle over, and she says that no amount of closeness is close enough for her.

Twiggs emanates a cheeky personality, hungry to perform on stages. After recently performing her first show ever, Twiggs posted that she’s “coming to save us,” hinting at her desire to make more fun pop music. As she states, “You can bet that I know what a girl wants,” and what she wants most is to claim her spot on a bright stage.

Listen to WHAT A GIRL WANTS on Spotify