At first glance, this album could seem closer to a challenging academic quiz than a new popular music album by a musician whose last hit was a collaboration with a global pop star. Broken into 4 different sections and voiced in 13 languages, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged album investigating female mystique, religious transcendence, and corporal change, frequently by way of the prism of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards here, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the efforts of other artists seem rather small.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that this album manages to transcend overly intellectual posturing is nothing short of a miracle, and sole praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first album to blend the past with the present, the stakes feel much higher on Lux, and the balancing act more precarious. The element that really elevates this fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That playful spirit comes forth brightly on the stunning piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, everything falls silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh and a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes in like cartoonish force. The song then shifts into the wild single driven by racing strings, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic with this album lies in the listener never quite know—or even wish to know—where it is going next."
Nearly each song concludes at a totally different place from how it began. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity over a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing her previous trap-infused style starts out moody and brooding, featuring menacing beats, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Pop
A key balancing act on Lux is navigating the line of radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy hits. One track sung entirely in English builds around a chorus that seems to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spirals skyward. This feat is repeated on a different powerful ballad that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused number charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux is pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its own inherent excess. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes time to fully explore but never feels like hard work. Where other major pop albums of the year felt like a meager scraps, Lux offers a lavish feast at which the characters around it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flit between discussions about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly inventive practitioner.
