On the surface, this work may look more like a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest popular music project by an artist who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with a global K-pop icon. Split across 4 separate movements and voiced in thirteen tongues, it is a dizzying orchestral-influenced work exploring female mystique, religious transcendence, and bodily transformation, often through the lens of various female saints. The end of a romance—a theme handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long list of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars look quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
That this album succeeds in escape overly academic posturing feels nearly miraculous, and sole praise going to Rosalía. While this is not her first project to blend historical sounds with the present, the stakes feel much higher on Lux, with the balancing act far more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and engrained drama, proves to be a core spirit of fun. Much like the legendary Björk during her peak, there is a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener into its whirlwind. Even when she's breaking hearts apart, the listener nevertheless want to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This playful energy shines clearly during the stirring piano-led ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Suddenly, everything drops silent, and there's a spontaneous laugh and a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo thuds in like comedic force. The song then segues to the wild track driven by racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that you never quite understand—nor wish to know—what it will go to next."
Almost every track ends in a totally different point than how it started. A track explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's previous trap-infused work begins out dark and sinister, featuring menacing beats, until sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to soften the song's rough corners.
The Balance Of Art & Pop
Another crucial achievement of Lux involves straddling the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is no surprise that it has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. A song sung primarily in the English language builds on a chorus that seems to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spins skyward. This feat gets echoed by a different powerful ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining layered melodies as a complex weave.
- A waltz-like number charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Across the album, the singing carry a sharp edge, like a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album is pop on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high artistry in an era of looming artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its built-in excess. It is a deep source of hidden treasure that takes time to completely explore but never feels like hard work. While other big releases of the year felt like a meager scraps, this record is a sumptuous banquet at which the characters around it, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative visionary.
