At first glance, this work could seem more like a difficult academic challenge rather than the latest pop album from an artist whose last hit was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Split into four distinct movements and voiced in thirteen tongues, we have a dizzying classical-tinged work investigating feminine mystery, religious transcendence, and corporal transformation, often through the lens of different saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, carried by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a vast roll call of contributors. Its sheer daring by itself renders the work of other artists seem rather laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
That Lux manages to escape overly academic posturing is nothing short of miraculous, with complete credit going to Rosalía. While it's not her first album to fuse historical sounds and the present, its ambitions feel much higher here, with the balancing act far more precarious. The element that truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of playfulness. Much like the legendary Björk during her height, there is a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing your heart in two, the listener still desire to stay alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly during a stunning Italian song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Then, all the music drops away, and there's a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration before a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo thuds in like cartoonish impact. The song immediately segues to the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic of Lux is that the listener never quite understand—or even wish to predict—what it is going next."
Nearly each track ends in a totally different place than how it started. A track explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate symphony only to disintegrating into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic style begins out dark and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to soften the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Of Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album is navigating the gap between bold innovation and broad accessibility. It is no surprise that it has become the artist's first work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy hits. One track performed entirely in the English language swells on a refrain that seems to gather increasingly nagging melodies as it spins skyward. This trick gets echoed on a different powerful ballad that expands and constricts, weaving layered tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused number seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former lover described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux represents pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry in an era of impending artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that skillfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried gems that takes patience to completely mine but never seem like hard work. While other big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record offers a lavish feast at which the characters around the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flit from discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
