On the surface, Lux may look more like a challenging scholarly examination rather than a new pop album by a musician who just had a last hit featured a global K-pop icon. Broken across 4 separate movements and voiced in 13 tongues, this is a dizzying classical-tinged opus investigating female mystique, spiritual ascent, and bodily transformation, often through the perspective of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, supported by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among an extensive list of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars seem rather laughable.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to escape overly academic posturing feels nearly a miracle, and sole praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first album to alchemize the past and the present, the ambitions feel far higher on Lux, with the balancing act far more precarious. What really elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic artist during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you up in its tornado. Even when she is breaking your heart in two, you nevertheless desire to be right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
That playful spirit comes forth brightly on the stirring Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for several moments. Then, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string crescendo thuds down with cartoonish force. The song then shifts to the wild track driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album is that the listener rarely quite understand—nor want to know—what you is going to next."
Nearly every song finishes in a totally different place than how it began. One moment examines the fleeting nature of celebrity over a delicate symphony before disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing her previous rhythmic work starts out moody and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Pop
Another crucial achievement of Lux involves straddling the gap between bold innovation and broad accessibility. This is little coincidence that it has become her highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. One track performed entirely in the English language builds on a refrain that seems to collect more and more infectious melodies as it spins skyward. That trick is repeated by another expansive ballad that expands and contracts, weaving layered melodies like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused number charms with its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture honesty of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high artistry amid of looming AI-generated sameness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent excess. It is an abundant well of hidden treasure that requires time to fully mine but never seem like hard work. While some big releases of the year felt like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the characters around it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flit from conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day musical from pop's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
