Initially, Lux could seem more like a challenging academic challenge rather than a new popular music album from an artist who just had a previous single featured an international K-pop star. Split into 4 distinct movements and voiced in 13 languages, this is a dizzying orchestral-influenced work exploring feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal transformation, often via the prism of different women saints. The end of a romance—a topic handled with raw openness elsewhere—is launched skyward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within a long roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity by itself makes the work of other pop stars appear rather laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux succeeds in escape overly intellectual chin-stroking feels almost miraculous, and full credit belonging to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to fuse the past and modern styles, its ambitions are far greater here, with the tightrope walk far more precarious. What truly raises this fourth release, beyond its complex melodies, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, is an essential spirit of fun. Much like the iconic Björk at her peak, you find a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps the listener into its whirlwind. When she's breaking your heart in two, the listener still want to be right there through the ride.
A Prime Example of Joy
That playful spirit comes forth clearly on a stirring piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool for several moments. Then, all the music drops silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo crashes down like comedic force. The song immediately shifts into the wild track driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from the artist herself.
"The charm of this album is that the listener rarely quite understand—or even want to know—where it is going to next."
Nearly every track concludes in a totally different place from how it started. One moment explores the transient nature of celebrity with a delicate orchestration before collapsing in electronic cacophony. Another, a song that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off dark and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth its jagged edges.
The Balance Between Art & Pop
A key balancing act of the album involves straddling the line of radical experimentation and broad accessibility. It is little surprise that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of key markets: at its core a suite of truly catchy pop songs. A song performed entirely in the English language builds around a chorus that seems to collect more and more infectious hooks as it spins skyward. This trick gets repeated on another expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a sharp edge, like a storybook character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its inherent excess. It is an abundant well of buried treasure that requires time to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. Where some big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the guests around the table, some tipsy on holy drink, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly creative practitioner.
