On the surface, this work could seem closer to a difficult scholarly examination than the latest popular music album from a musician who just had a last single featured an international K-pop star. Divided across four distinct movements and voiced in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying orchestral-influenced work investigating female mystique, religious ascent, and bodily change, often through the perspective of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure daring alone makes the efforts of other artists look quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that Lux succeeds in avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly miraculous, with full credit belonging to the artist. While it's not the first time project to blend the past and the present, its ambitions feel far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more precarious. What really raises this fourth album, beyond its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent drama, is a core spirit of fun. Similar to the iconic artist during her peak, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart apart, the listener still want to be right there for the ride.
A Prime Example of Joy
That playful energy comes forth clearly on the stunning Italian song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four minutes. Then, everything falls silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh and a comment before a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo thuds in like comedic impact. The song immediately segues to the wild track driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm with Lux lies in you never exactly understand—or even want to know—where you is going to next."
Nearly each track ends in a totally different point than where it began. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before disintegrating in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, before fluttering traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth the song's rough corners.
The Balance Between Art & Pop
A key balancing act of Lux involves straddling the gap of radical innovation and mainstream appeal. It is no surprise that it has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major markets: at its core a collection of utterly undeniable hits. One track performed primarily in the English language swells around a refrain that feels to gather increasingly nagging melodies while it spins skyward. That trick gets echoed on a different powerful track that expands and constricts, weaving layered melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number seduces via its playful, theatrical flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of other breakup anthems, lambasting a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
This album represents pop on a grand scale, a hungry reach for capital-A artistry amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried treasure that requires time to fully mine but never seem like hard work. Where other major releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the characters at it, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter between discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
