On the surface, this album may look closer to a difficult academic quiz rather than the latest popular music project from an artist whose last hit featured a global K-pop star. Broken into four different sections and sung in thirteen tongues, we have a dizzying orchestral-influenced album investigating female mystery, religious transcendence, and bodily transformation, often via the perspective of different women saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, carried by the lush sound of a major symphony orchestra and work from an award-winning composer among an extensive list of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself makes the efforts of contemporary artists appear rather modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
The fact that this album manages to escape overly academic chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with complete credit belonging to Rosalía. While it's not the first time album to blend the past with modern styles, its stakes feel far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more dramatic. What really raises this fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential spirit of playfulness. Much like the legendary Björk at her height, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing which sweeps you up in its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, the listener still desire to be alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Example of Joy
That exuberant spirit shines clearly on the stirring Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, everything drops away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration prior to a comically over-the-top string crescendo crashes in like cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts to the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than herself.
"The magic of this album lies in you rarely quite understand—or even want to know—where it will go next."
Almost each song concludes at a completely different point from where it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of fame over a delicate orchestration before disintegrating in digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her previous trap-infused work starts off dark and sinister, with menacing beats, until sudden traditional handclaps and an angelic choir enter to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Balance Between Experiment and Pop
A key achievement on Lux involves navigating the line between radical experimentation and broad appeal. It is no coincidence that it has achieved her highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in the English language builds on a chorus that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spins upward. This trick gets echoed by a different expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes as a complex weave.
- A waltz-like song charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art amid of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of hidden treasure that takes time to fully mine but never seem like hard work. Where other major pop albums of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters at it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flit between conversations about historical figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
