At first glance, this work might appear more like an arduous scholarly quiz than a new popular music project from a musician who just had a previous single featured an international K-pop icon. Divided across four separate parts and performed in thirteen tongues, it is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work exploring female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently through the lens of different women saints. The end of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot upwards here, buoyed by the lush sound of a major orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long list of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself makes the work of contemporary pop stars seem rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that this album manages to avoid dry academic chin-stroking is nearly a miracle, and full praise going to the artist. Although this is not her first project to blend the past and the present, the scale are far greater here, and the balancing act more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core spirit of fun. Similar to the legendary artist at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you into its whirlwind. When she's breaking your heart apart, you nevertheless desire to be right there through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This playful energy comes forth clearly on the stunning piano-led song about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string surge crashes down with cartoonish force. The song then segues into the wild single driven by galloping strings, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm of Lux is that you never quite understand—or even wish to predict—where you will go next."
Almost each song finishes in a totally different place than how it started. A track examines the fleeting nature of fame with a featherlight orchestration before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier trap-infused style starts off moody and sinister, featuring menacing beats, before fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to smooth its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Experiment and Pop
Another crucial balancing act on the album involves straddling the line between bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is little surprise that the album has become the artist's highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of truly catchy pop songs. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a chorus that seems to collect increasingly nagging melodies while it spirals skyward. This trick gets echoed by another expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies like an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number seduces via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
This album is pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism for sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully manages its own inherent excess. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where some major releases of the year seemed like feasting on meal, Lux offers a lavish feast where the characters around the table, some intoxicated on holy wine, flutter from conversations about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about useless men. It is a modern-day musical from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
