Initially, Lux could seem more like an arduous academic quiz than a new pop project from a musician who just had a previous single featured an international K-pop star. Divided across 4 separate movements and performed in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying symphonic album exploring feminine mystique, religious ascent, and bodily change, frequently by way of the prism of various women saints. The end of a romance—a topic handled with raw openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive list of contributors. Its sheer ambition alone makes the efforts of contemporary artists look quite modest.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in escape dry intellectual posturing feels almost miraculous, and complete credit belonging to the artist. Although it's not her first project to alchemize historical sounds and the present, the scale feel much higher on Lux, with the balancing act more precarious. What truly elevates this fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk at her height, there is a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you up in its tornado. When she is tearing your heart in two, the listener nevertheless desire to be alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
That exuberant energy comes forth clearly on the stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four moments. Suddenly, everything drops away, and we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top string crescendo thuds in like comedic impact. The song then shifts to the wild track driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm with this album is that the listener never quite know—or even wish to know—what you is going to next."
Almost each track ends in a totally distinct point than where it began. One moment examines the transient trappings of fame over a featherlight orchestration before collapsing into electronic chaos. Another, a song that recalls the artist's previous rhythmic style begins off dark and brooding, with prowling beats, until fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Bridge Of Art and Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act of Lux involves straddling the line between radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is no surprise that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of major markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. A song sung entirely in the English language swells around a chorus that feels to collect increasingly infectious melodies as it spins upward. This trick is repeated by a different expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture impact of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across the album, the vocals have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
This album is pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It eschews solipsism for glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep well of hidden treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. While other major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous feast at which the guests at it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flit between conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
