At first glance, Lux might appear more like an arduous university challenge than a new popular music record from a musician whose last hit featured an international K-pop star. Split into four separate sections and sung in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking symphonic opus that delves into feminine mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently via the prism of various female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, buoyed by the constant sound of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure daring alone makes the efforts of contemporary artists look rather laughable.
Transcending Academic Pretense
That Lux succeeds in transcend dry intellectual posturing feels nothing short of a miracle, and sole credit going to Rosalía. While this is not her first project to alchemize the past with the present, the scale feel much greater here, and the balancing act far more precarious. What really raises her fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic Björk at her peak, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls you into its tornado. When she is tearing hearts in two, the listener still want to be alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That exuberant energy shines clearly during a stunning piano-led ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous laugh and a comment prior to a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes down with comedic impact. The track immediately segues into the frenetic track featuring galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from none other than Björk.
"The magic of this album is that the listener never exactly know—nor wish to know—where you is going to next."
Almost every track concludes in a totally different place from where it began. A track explores the transient trappings of fame with a featherlight symphony before disintegrating in digital cacophony. Another, a cut echoing the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off moody and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Art and Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act of the album is straddling the gap between radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is little surprise that it has become her highest-charting release to crack the Top 5 of key markets: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English builds around a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks while it spins upward. That trick is repeated on a different powerful track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural impact of other breakup anthems, lambasting a former lover described as an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a sharp smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
Lux is popular music on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. It is a deep well of buried treasure that requires patience to fully explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While some big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the characters at it, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter from conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common stories about useless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's truly restlessly creative practitioner.
