On the surface, Lux may look more like a difficult university challenge than the latest popular music project from an artist whose last single featured an international K-pop icon. Divided across four separate parts and voiced in 13 languages, it is a head-spinning symphonic album exploring feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, frequently through the lens of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within a vast roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of contemporary pop stars look rather small.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
That this album succeeds in escape overly intellectual chin-stroking is nothing short of a miracle, with full credit going to the artist. While it's not the first time album to alchemize historical sounds with the present, the scale are far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. What truly elevates this fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, is a core spirit of fun. Much like the legendary Björk at her peak, you find a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener into its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless desire to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit shines brightly on the stirring piano-led song about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for several moments. Then, everything drops away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds down like cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the wild track featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic of this album is that the listener rarely exactly understand—nor wish to know—what it will go next."
Nearly every track finishes in a totally distinct place than how it started. One moment examines the transient nature of celebrity with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and sinister, with prowling vocals, until fluttering traditional handclaps and an angelic choir enter to soften its rough edges.
The Bridge Of Experiment and Pop
A key achievement of the album is straddling the gap of bold innovation and broad appeal. This is little coincidence that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed entirely in the English language swells around a chorus that feels to gather more and more nagging hooks while it spirals skyward. That feat gets repeated by a different powerful track that grows and constricts, weaving multiple tunes like an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating an ex- partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across the album, the singing carry a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
Lux is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art amid of impending artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes time to fully mine but doesn't feels like a chore. While other big releases of the year felt like a meager meal, this record is a lavish feast at which the guests around it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flit between discussions about ancient figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared stories about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
