Initially, this work might appear closer to a difficult university quiz than a new pop album from an artist who just had a last single featured an international K-pop icon. Divided into four separate sections and sung in thirteen tongues, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged album that delves into female mystery, religious ascent, and bodily transformation, often by way of the prism of various saintly figures. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—soars skyward here, carried by the constant sound of a major orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter within a long list of contributors. Its sheer ambition alone renders the efforts of other artists look quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album succeeds in transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking is nearly a miracle, and sole credit going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first project to fuse historical sounds and modern styles, the stakes are much greater on Lux, with the balancing act more pronounced. What truly raises her fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and engrained drama, proves to be an essential spirit of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk at her peak, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, you nevertheless desire to be alongside her for the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly on a stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for several minutes. Then, everything falls silent, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration before a comically over-the-top orchestral surge crashes in with cartoonish impact. The track immediately shifts to the wild single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic with Lux lies in you rarely quite understand—or even wish to predict—where it is going to next."
Nearly each track ends at a completely distinct point than how it began. One moment explores the transient nature of fame with a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused work starts off dark and brooding, with menacing vocals, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to soften its rough corners.
The Balance Between Art and Accessibility
A key achievement on Lux is straddling the line of radical innovation and broad accessibility. It is no surprise that the album has become her first release to break into the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. A song performed primarily in the English language swells on a chorus that feels to gather increasingly infectious hooks while it spins skyward. This trick is repeated on another expansive track that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares the cultural honesty of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former lover described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing carry a sharp smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux is pop on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry amid of looming artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent excess. It is an abundant well of hidden gems that requires time to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the guests around it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly creative visionary.
