In Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s BBC drama Fleabag, the main character broke the fourth wall and announced in a therapy session, “I have a horrible feeling I am a greedy, perverted, selfish, apathetic, cynical, depraved, morally bankrupt woman.” If breaking the fourth wall was how Fleabag could be honest about her mental state, ESTRUS is Tove Lo’s very own shattered fourth wall to fans. In a startlingly similar statement, she shouts “I’m the worst I’m a bitch I’m a jerk the most problematic woman on earth” on The Bad One, which basks in feral liberation.

The creation of the record proved to be just as chaotic as the content. After a long drinking session, Tove Lo and her longtime friend and collaborator Ludvig Söderberg began a frenzied yelling session about everything they were going through. From here, the template for the album emerged: a frenzied internal conflict flanked by contradictions. From there, the trail wound through LA and Stockholm before landing back in the small Swedish fishing village where she spent her childhood summers. Here she reconnected with her younger self, unlocking her messier side and old memories.

The deepest insecurities come out to play early in the record. Self-doubt plagues I’m Your Girl, Right?, where a mixture of anxious attachment and a need for validation drive this thrashy electro-pop standout. The propulsive If I Could, I Would gets even more candid, tackling self-destructive tendencies, body image, and lying in therapy. On last album Dirt Femme she contemplated finding stability and her own womanhood, but here, by examining past traumas she revels in not knowing the answers.

The opening track A Lot Of Feelings, No Solutions also echoes the manifesto of being clueless on navigating turbulent emotions. In this throbbing club introspective, she bluntly laments, “I got a lot of anger, but no retributions,” in a short opener lasting only 50 seconds. During the period of Dirt Femme, the Swedish singer was navigating the transition from a major label to going independent, releasing music through her own label, Pretty Swede Records, as well as getting married.

Whereas Dirt Femme grappled with these major life changes in real time, ESTRUS delves headfirst into the aftermath. The unglamorous thereafter is charted in detail, showing that even finding “the one” and being your own boss comes with confronting your own demons. Even the sonic shift is apparent: inspired by Robyn and The Knife, it was out with disco confessionals and in with dark experimental pop.

But despite the inner turmoil, there are moments that lend light to the dark. In what can only be described as the best dessert-driven sexual empowerment anthem since Rihanna’s racy Birthday Cake, I’m The Cake is less subtly suggestive and more in your face with lines like, “open my legs, I’ll show you Sweden, she’s all cake”. On the wonderfully regal Des Fleurs, a French guest verse from Stromae adds a sophisticated flourish to a track that is commandingly majestic amidst the backdrop of chaos.

Fully challenging the idea of having it all, ESTRUS is an unpredictable reckoning that is completely content in ditching the hunt for solutions. Closer Source Of Life brings the ongoing battle back front and centre; adulthood is looming, do we keep partying forever or do we settle down and face the future? Keeping with the central theme of this record, the short answer is Tove Lo doesn’t know what to do next. But who needs answers? Especially when the mess sounds this good.