At first glance, this album may look closer to an arduous academic challenge than the latest popular music project from an artist who just had a previous hit featured a global K-pop icon. Divided into four separate movements and sung in thirteen languages, we have a dizzying symphonic opus that delves into female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and bodily change, often through the prism of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, carried by the constant sound of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity alone renders the efforts of other artists appear quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in escape dry academic posturing is nearly a miracle, with complete praise belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to fuse the past and the present, its stakes feel far higher here, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. What truly elevates this fourth release, beyond its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be an essential sense of joy. Much like the legendary Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing hearts apart, the listener nevertheless want to be right there for the ride.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit shines clearly during the stirring piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for several moments. Suddenly, all the music falls silent, and there's a gleeful laugh followed by a comment prior to a hilariously over-the-top orchestral surge crashes in with comedic impact. The track immediately segues into the frenetic single driven by galloping strings, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic with Lux lies in the listener rarely exactly know—or even wish to know—where it will go to next."
Nearly each track concludes in a completely distinct place than where it started. A track examines the transient trappings of fame over a featherlight orchestration before collapsing in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous trap-infused work starts out dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth the song's rough corners.
The Balance Of Art & Accessibility
A key balancing act of Lux involves straddling the gap of radical experimentation and broad appeal. This is no coincidence that it has achieved her first work to break into the Top 5 of major markets: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable hits. A song performed primarily in English swells on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spirals skyward. This trick is repeated by another expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes as a complex weave.
- A dance-infused number charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares with cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former lover described as an "psychological bully".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for high artistry in an era of looming artificial blankness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of hidden gems that takes patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like a chore. While some big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit between discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.
