On the surface, Lux may look more like a difficult scholarly quiz rather than a new popular music record by an artist who just had a last single featured an international pop icon. Divided into 4 different parts and performed in thirteen tongues, it is a dizzying symphonic work exploring female mystique, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently via the prism of different female saints. The end of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long roll call of contributors. The pure ambition alone makes the work of other pop stars look quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
The fact that Lux succeeds in escape overly intellectual posturing is almost miraculous, and full praise belonging to the artist. Although it's not her first album to alchemize the past with modern styles, the scale feel far greater on Lux, and the balancing act more dramatic. The element that truly raises this fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, is an essential spirit of fun. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she's breaking hearts in two, you still want to stay right there for the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful spirit comes forth clearly during a stirring piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four moments. Suddenly, everything drops away, to reveal there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo thuds down with comedic impact. The song then segues into the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic of this album is that the listener rarely quite know—nor wish to know—what you is going next."
Nearly each track concludes in a totally different place from how it began. A track examines the fleeting nature of fame over a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in digital cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls her earlier trap-infused work begins off moody and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, before sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Bridge Of Art and Pop
A key achievement of the album involves navigating the line of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that it has become the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a collection of truly undeniable hits. One track sung primarily in the English language builds around a refrain that seems to collect increasingly infectious melodies while it spins upward. This feat is repeated by another expansive ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album represents pop on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art in an era of looming artificial sameness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes patience to completely explore but never seem like a chore. Where other major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests around it, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter from discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly endlessly creative practitioner.
