On the surface, Lux could seem closer to an arduous academic challenge rather than a new popular music project from an artist who just had a previous hit featured a global pop star. Divided across 4 distinct sections and performed in 13 languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged opus exploring feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, often via the perspective of different women saints. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with grounded openness elsewhere—soars upwards on this record, carried by the constant sound of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among an extensive list of collaborators. The pure audacity by itself renders the efforts of contemporary artists appear quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
That this album succeeds in avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking feels almost miraculous, and sole credit belonging to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds and the present, the stakes are far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more dramatic. What truly raises this fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist at her peak, you find a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener up in its tornado. When she is tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless desire to be right there through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
That exuberant spirit comes forth clearly on a stunning Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several minutes. Suddenly, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down like cartoonish impact. The track then segues into the frenetic single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic of this album is that you rarely exactly know—nor wish to know—what it is going next."
Nearly every track concludes in a totally different point from how it began. A track examines the transient nature of fame over a delicate symphony before disintegrating in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her previous rhythmic style starts off moody and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to soften its jagged edges.
The Balance Between Experiment and Pop
A key achievement of the album is straddling the gap between bold innovation and broad appeal. It is no coincidence that it has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in English builds around a chorus that feels to collect increasingly nagging melodies while it spins upward. That trick gets repeated by another expansive ballad that grows and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like number seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns the cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
This album is popular music on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for high artistry amid of impending AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its own built-in excess. This is an abundant well of buried gems that requires patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. Where other big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish feast at which the guests at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flutter between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day musical from music's truly endlessly inventive visionary.
