At first glance, Lux may look more like an arduous academic quiz rather than the latest popular music record by a musician who just had a last single featured a global K-pop icon. Divided across four different movements and sung in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning symphonic opus investigating female mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical transformation, often through the lens of different female saints. The end of a love affair—a theme handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—soars upwards here, carried by the lush sound of a major orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long roll call of contributors. The pure ambition alone makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars appear rather modest.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to escape overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, and sole credit going to the artist. While it's not the first time project to blend the past and modern styles, the ambitions feel much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. What truly elevates her fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of fun. Much like the iconic Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she's breaking your heart in two, the listener nevertheless want to be right there through the ride.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful energy shines clearly on a stirring Italian song about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for several moments. Then, everything drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously over-the-top string surge thuds in with cartoonish force. The song then shifts to the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than Björk.
"The magic of Lux lies in you rarely quite understand—nor want to know—where you is going to next."
Almost every track finishes at a completely distinct point than where it started. A track examines the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Another, a song that recalls her earlier trap-infused work starts off moody and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, until sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir enter to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Balance Of Art and Pop
A key balancing act on Lux involves navigating the line of bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is little coincidence that it has achieved her first release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy hits. A song sung primarily in the English language swells around a refrain that seems to gather more and more nagging melodies while it spins skyward. This feat is echoed on a different powerful ballad that grows and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused number seduces via its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares the cultural honesty of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a maximalist level, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of impending artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of hidden gems that takes time to fully explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While other big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, this record offers a sumptuous banquet where the guests around it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
