At first glance, this album could seem more like a challenging academic challenge rather than the latest popular music album from a musician who just had a last single featured a global K-pop icon. Divided into four different movements and sung in thirteen languages, this is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced opus investigating feminine mystique, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently through the prism of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward here, supported by the lush sound of a major orchestra and work from an award-winning composer within a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure daring by itself makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars look rather small.
Transcending Academic Exercise
That Lux succeeds in avoid dry academic posturing feels almost miraculous, and complete praise belonging to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds with modern styles, its ambitions feel much higher here, and the balancing act far more pronounced. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of playfulness. Much like the iconic Björk during her peak, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps the listener into its whirlwind. When she is tearing your heart apart, you still want to stay right there for the ride.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This playful energy shines brightly on a stirring Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Then, all the music falls silent, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top orchestral surge thuds down like comedic force. The track then segues to the frenetic single featuring racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist herself.
"The magic with Lux lies in the listener never exactly know—nor wish to know—what you will go to next."
Nearly each song ends at a totally distinct point than how it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony before collapsing in electronic chaos. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth its jagged edges.
The Balance Of Experiment and Pop
Another crucial balancing act on Lux is navigating the gap between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is no coincidence that the album has become the artist's first release to crack the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy hits. A song performed primarily in the English language builds around a chorus that seems to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This feat is repeated by another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
Lux represents popular music on a grand level, a hungry reach for capital-A Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism for sublime elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully manages its built-in excess. This is a deep well of hidden treasure that takes patience to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. While some 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 between discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
