Initially, this album might appear closer to a challenging university examination than the latest pop project from an artist whose previous hit featured an international K-pop star. Split into four separate sections and performed in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking symphonic work investigating feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, often via the prism of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot upwards here, buoyed by the lush sound of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning composer among an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity alone makes the efforts of other pop stars look quite laughable.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that this album manages to avoid overly academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and sole praise going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds and modern styles, the ambitions feel much greater here, and the balancing act more precarious. What really elevates her fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent drama, is an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic artist at her peak, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she is breaking hearts apart, you nevertheless desire to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit comes forth brightly on a stirring Italian song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for several moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, and there's a spontaneous laugh and a comment before a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds in like comedic force. The song immediately segues into the wild single driven by racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with Lux is that you never quite know—nor wish to know—what you will go to next."
Almost each track finishes at a totally different point from how it began. One moment examines the transient nature of celebrity with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic style begins off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, before sudden traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Balance Between Art & Pop
Another crucial achievement of Lux is straddling the line of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that it has become her first release to break into the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable hits. A song sung entirely in the English language swells around a refrain that seems to gather more and more nagging melodies as it spins upward. This trick gets repeated by a different powerful track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered melodies as a complex weave.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former lover described as an "emotional bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing have a sharp smile, like a storybook character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
Lux represents popular music on a grand scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art amid of impending artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant well of hidden treasure that takes patience to completely mine but never feels like a chore. While some major releases of the year felt like a meager meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the characters at the table, some tipsy on sacred drink, flutter from discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative practitioner.
