At first glance, Lux may look closer to an arduous academic challenge rather than the latest popular music album by an artist who just had a last hit featured a global K-pop star. Split across four different movements and performed in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying classical-tinged album exploring feminine mystique, religious transcendence, and physical change, frequently via the lens of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is launched heavenward on this record, buoyed by the constant sound of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself makes the work of contemporary pop stars appear rather small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album manages to transcend dry intellectual posturing feels almost a miracle, with full praise going to the artist. Although this is not the first time album to blend the past and modern styles, its stakes feel far greater here, and the balancing act more pronounced. The element that really elevates her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and inherent drama, is a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist at her peak, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener into its whirlwind. Even when she's breaking your heart in two, the listener still want to be alongside her through the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
This playful energy comes forth brightly on a stunning Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls silent, and there's a gleeful laugh and a comment before a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo crashes down with cartoonish force. The song immediately shifts into the wild single featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The charm with this album lies in you rarely exactly understand—or even want to predict—where you will go to next."
Nearly each track finishes at a totally distinct point than where it began. A track explores the transient trappings of fame over a delicate orchestration before disintegrating into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her earlier trap-infused style begins off dark and brooding, with prowling vocals, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir arrive to soften its rough corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Accessibility
A key achievement on the album involves navigating the line of radical innovation and mainstream appeal. It is little surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first work to crack the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in English builds on a chorus that feels to collect more and more nagging melodies while it spins skyward. That feat is echoed by a different powerful track that grows and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the cultural honesty of other breakup songs, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
Lux is pop on a grand scale, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism for glorious transcendence, creating a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of hidden treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other big releases of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record offers a lavish feast at which the characters at it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about useless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
