At first glance, this album may look closer to an arduous university challenge than the latest pop project from an artist whose last single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Broken into 4 separate parts and voiced in thirteen tongues, it is a dizzying orchestral-influenced album investigating feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, often by way of the perspective of various female saints. The end of a romance—a theme treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, buoyed by the lush sound of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure daring by itself renders the efforts of other artists seem rather small.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album manages to escape dry academic posturing feels nearly a miracle, and full praise going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to fuse historical sounds and the present, its stakes feel much greater on Lux, with the balancing act more dramatic. What really elevates her fourth album, beyond its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Much like the iconic Björk at her height, you find a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is tearing hearts apart, you still want to stay right there for the ride.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This playful spirit comes forth clearly during the stirring Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool for several minutes. Suddenly, everything falls silent, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes down like cartoonish impact. The track then shifts to the wild single featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm of Lux is that you never quite understand—or even wish to predict—what it will go to next."
Nearly each song ends in a completely distinct point than where it started. One moment examines the fleeting nature of fame with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work begins out dark and brooding, with menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth its rough edges.
The Balance Between Art & Accessibility
A key balancing act of Lux is straddling the line between radical innovation and broad accessibility. It is little surprise that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of utterly catchy hits. One track performed entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to collect increasingly infectious melodies while it spirals upward. That feat gets echoed by another expansive ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused number seduces via its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural impact of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former lover described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a storybook character concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You have the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its own built-in excess. It is a deep source of hidden treasure that takes time to fully explore but never seem like a chore. Where some big releases of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux is a lavish feast at which the guests around the table, some tipsy on holy drink, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about useless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly creative practitioner.
