At first glance, Lux could seem closer to a challenging university examination than the latest popular music project by an artist whose last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Broken across 4 separate parts and sung in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning orchestral-influenced work investigating feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, often via the lens of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, buoyed by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer among a vast roll call of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone makes the efforts of other pop stars appear quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album succeeds in escape overly academic chin-stroking feels almost miraculous, with complete credit belonging to Rosalía. Although this is not her first project to alchemize historical sounds with the present, its ambitions are far higher here, with the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that really raises this fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Much like the iconic Björk at her height, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its tornado. When she is breaking your heart in two, the listener still want to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly during a stirring Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Then, everything drops away, and we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a comment prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds in with comedic impact. The track then shifts into the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener rarely exactly know—nor wish to predict—where you is going next."
Almost each track ends in a completely distinct point than how it began. One moment explores the transient trappings of fame over a featherlight symphony before collapsing in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, until sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir enter to smooth its rough corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act of Lux is straddling the line between radical innovation and mainstream appeal. This is little coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to crack the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English swells around a chorus that seems to collect increasingly nagging melodies as it spins upward. This feat gets echoed on another powerful ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist level, a hungry reach for high Art amid of impending artificial blankness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep well of buried treasure that takes patience to fully mine but never seem like hard work. Where some big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the guests at the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common stories about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most endlessly creative practitioner.
