At first glance, Lux might appear closer to a challenging academic examination rather than a new pop project from an artist whose previous hit featured a global K-pop star. Broken across 4 different sections and sung in 13 languages, it is a dizzying orchestral-influenced work exploring female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, often via the lens of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—soars upwards on this record, buoyed by the constant presence of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive roll call of contributors. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of contemporary artists appear quite laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to avoid overly academic posturing feels nearly miraculous, and sole praise belonging to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to blend the past with the present, the stakes are much greater here, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. What truly raises her fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential spirit of joy. Similar to the iconic artist at her height, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she is tearing your heart apart, the listener still want to be right there for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit comes forth clearly during a stunning Italian song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music drops away, and there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically over-the-top string surge crashes down like comedic impact. The track immediately shifts to the frenetic single driven by galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from the artist herself.
"The magic with this album lies in the listener rarely quite understand—or even want to know—what it is going next."
Almost every track concludes at a totally distinct place from where it started. One moment examines the transient trappings of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Another, a cut echoing her previous rhythmic work begins out dark and brooding, featuring prowling beats, before sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to soften its rough edges.
The Balance Of Art & Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves straddling the gap of radical innovation and broad appeal. It is little coincidence that it has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy hits. A song performed primarily in the English language swells on a refrain that feels to collect increasingly infectious hooks as it spirals upward. This feat is echoed on a different expansive track that expands and constricts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused number charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "emotional bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a sharp smile, like a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album represents popular music on a grand scale, a hungry reach for high artistry in an era of impending artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent excess. This is an abundant well of buried gems that takes patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While other major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux is a lavish feast where the characters at the table, some intoxicated on holy wine, flit between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a contemporary musical from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
