On the surface, Lux could seem closer to a difficult scholarly quiz than the latest popular music project from an artist who just had a previous hit featured an international K-pop icon. Divided into four different sections and performed in 13 tongues, this is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work exploring female mystery, religious transcendence, and physical change, frequently by way of the perspective of different female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is launched heavenward here, buoyed by the constant sound of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among a vast list of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone renders the work of other artists appear quite laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
The fact that Lux succeeds in escape overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with full praise going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first project to blend the past and the present, the ambitions are far greater here, and the balancing act far more pronounced. The element that truly raises her fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk during her peak, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, the listener nevertheless desire to stay right there through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit shines clearly during a stirring Italian song about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four minutes. Then, everything falls silent, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh followed by a comment prior to a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds down with comedic force. The song immediately shifts to the frenetic single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic of this album is that the listener rarely exactly know—nor wish to know—where it will go next."
Almost every song finishes in a completely different place from how it started. One moment examines the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off dark and brooding, featuring prowling beats, until sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Balance Between Art and Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves straddling the line of bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is little coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. One track performed primarily in English builds on a refrain that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies as it spins upward. This feat gets echoed on another expansive track that grows and constricts, weaving multiple tunes as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating a former lover described as an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have the podium of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its own built-in excess. It is a deep source of hidden treasure that requires patience to fully explore but never seem like hard work. Where some major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record offers a lavish banquet where the characters at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flutter between discussions about ancient saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
