On the surface, this album might appear more like an arduous scholarly challenge than the latest popular music album from an artist who just had a last single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split into four different movements and voiced in 13 tongues, it is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced opus investigating feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and bodily change, often via the prism of various women saints. The end of a romance—a topic handled with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, carried by the constant sound of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself makes the work of other artists seem quite small.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
That Lux manages to escape overly intellectual posturing is almost miraculous, and complete praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time album to fuse the past and modern styles, the ambitions are far greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk far more precarious. The element that truly raises her fourth release, beyond its complex tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk during her height, there is a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls the listener up in its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, the listener still desire to stay right there for the ride.
A Signature Example of Joy
That exuberant energy comes forth brightly on a stirring Italian song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, everything drops silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral surge crashes down like cartoonish force. The song then shifts to the frenetic track driven by racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic of this album is that the listener never exactly understand—nor want to know—where it is going to next."
Nearly every song ends in a completely different place from where it started. A track examines the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before collapsing in digital chaos. Another, a song echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused work starts off dark and sinister, with prowling vocals, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to soften the song's rough edges.
The Balance Between Art & Accessibility
A key balancing act on Lux involves navigating the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is no surprise that the album has become the artist's first work to break into the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of utterly catchy hits. One track performed primarily in English swells around a chorus that seems to gather increasingly nagging hooks as it spirals upward. That feat gets echoed by a different expansive track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting a former lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a storybook character concealing a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux represents popular music on a maximalist level, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully manages its own inherent excess. This is a deep source of hidden treasure that takes time to completely mine but never seem like a chore. While other big pop albums of the year felt like a meager meal, this record offers a sumptuous banquet at which the guests around the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about useless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
