At first glance, Lux could seem more like a challenging university examination rather than the latest popular music record by an artist who just had a last hit was a collaboration with a global pop icon. Split into four different sections and sung in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning symphonic album exploring female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, frequently through the lens of different saintly figures. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards on this record, carried by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer daring alone makes the work of other pop stars appear rather small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album manages to avoid overly academic posturing is nearly miraculous, and full credit going to Rosalía. While this is not the first time project to fuse the past with the present, its ambitions feel much higher here, and the balancing act far more dramatic. What truly raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be a core sense of joy. Much like the legendary Björk at her peak, you find a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart apart, you still want to stay right there for the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This playful spirit comes forth clearly on the stunning Italian song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four moments. Then, all the music falls away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo crashes in like cartoonish force. The track then shifts to the wild track driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The charm of Lux lies in the listener rarely exactly understand—or even want to know—what it will go next."
Almost every song concludes at a completely distinct point than where it started. A track examines the transient nature of fame with a delicate orchestration before disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier rhythmic work begins off dark and sinister, featuring prowling vocals, until fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act on Lux is navigating the line of bold experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track performed entirely in the English language builds on a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This feat gets repeated by a different expansive ballad that grows and constricts, intertwining layered melodies like a complex weave.
- A waltz-like number seduces via its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it shares the cultural honesty of other breakup songs, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a sharp smile, akin to a storybook character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its own built-in excess. This is a deep source of hidden gems that requires time to fully explore but never seem like a chore. Where other big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish feast where the characters at it, some intoxicated on holy wine, flutter from discussions about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from pop's most restlessly creative practitioner.
