Initially, Lux may look more like a difficult university quiz than a new pop record by a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Broken across four separate sections and sung in 13 tongues, this is a head-spinning symphonic work investigating feminine mystique, religious ascent, and physical change, frequently through the perspective of various women saints. The end of a romance—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—soars skyward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a full orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity alone renders the efforts of other pop stars look rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that Lux manages to transcend overly academic chin-stroking is nothing short of a miracle, with sole praise going to Rosalía. While it's not her first project to blend historical sounds and modern styles, its stakes feel much higher on Lux, and the balancing act far more pronounced. What really elevates her fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of playfulness. Much like the legendary artist during her height, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener up in its tornado. Even when she is breaking hearts in two, you still want to be right there for the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit comes forth brightly during a stirring piano-led ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four minutes. Then, everything drops silent, and there's a gleeful laugh followed by a comment prior to a comically over-the-top orchestral surge crashes in like cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts to the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux lies in you rarely exactly know—or even want to know—where it is going next."
Nearly every track ends in a completely distinct point than where it began. A track examines the transient trappings of fame over a delicate symphony only to collapsing into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts out moody and sinister, featuring prowling beats, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Art and Pop
Another crucial balancing act of the album involves navigating the gap between bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy pop songs. One track sung entirely in the English language swells around a chorus that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spins upward. This feat gets repeated by another powerful track that grows and contracts, intertwining layered melodies like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms with its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across the album, the vocals have a sharp smile, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its built-in excess. It is a deep source of buried gems that takes patience to completely mine but doesn't feels like a chore. Where other major releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy drink, flit from conversations about historical saints, the profound sensation of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative visionary.
