At first glance, Lux might appear closer to an arduous scholarly challenge rather than a new popular music album from an artist who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Divided into 4 separate parts and performed in 13 tongues, it is a head-spinning symphonic album exploring female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, often through the lens of various female saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush presence of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning composer within a long list of collaborators. The pure daring by itself renders the efforts of contemporary artists seem rather small.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid dry academic chin-stroking is nothing short of a miracle, and full credit belonging to Rosalía. While this is not the first time album to alchemize the past with modern styles, the ambitions are much greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk more pronounced. What truly raises this fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of fun. Much like the iconic Björk at her height, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing your heart in two, you still want to be right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit shines brightly on a stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four moments. Then, all the music drops silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous laugh and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge crashes in with comedic impact. The song then shifts to the frenetic single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm with this album is that the listener rarely exactly understand—or even wish to predict—where it will go next."
Almost each song concludes at a completely different place from where it began. One moment explores the fleeting nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's previous rhythmic work begins out moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Bridge Of Art & Pop
A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the gap of radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is little coincidence that the album has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a chorus that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spins skyward. That trick is echoed on a different expansive track that grows and contracts, intertwining layered melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces via its jaunty, theatrical flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares with pop culture honesty of other breakup anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing carry a painted-on edge, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent excess. This is an abundant source of buried gems that takes time to fully mine but never feels like hard work. Where some major releases of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish banquet where the characters around the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit from conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative practitioner.
