Initially, this album may look closer to a challenging scholarly examination than a new pop record by a musician whose last hit was a collaboration with a global pop star. Split across 4 different sections and sung in 13 languages, it is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work exploring feminine mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical transformation, often through the lens of different female saints. The end of a romance—a topic treated with raw openness elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, supported by the lush presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer within a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure daring alone makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars look rather laughable.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking is nothing short of a miracle, with full credit belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to fuse historical sounds with the present, the scale are far greater here, with the tightrope walk more dramatic. The element that truly elevates this fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core spirit of playfulness. Much like the legendary artist during her peak, you find a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls you up in its whirlwind. Even when she is breaking hearts in two, the listener still want to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
That exuberant energy shines clearly during a stunning Italian song about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, and we hear a spontaneous giggle and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo crashes in with cartoonish force. The track then shifts to the wild single featuring galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The charm of this album is that you never exactly understand—nor want to predict—what it is going next."
Almost every track concludes in a completely different place from how it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts out dark and brooding, with menacing vocals, until sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Bridge Between Art and Pop
A key achievement on Lux involves navigating the line of bold innovation and broad appeal. It is little surprise that it has become her first release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy hits. A song sung primarily in the English language builds around a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spins skyward. This trick gets repeated on a different powerful ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale character concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album is popular music on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of hidden treasure that takes time to completely explore but never seem like a chore. While some major releases of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux offers a lavish feast at which the characters around it, perhaps intoxicated on holy wine, flit from conversations about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
