On the surface, this album could seem closer to a challenging academic examination rather than the latest popular music album from a musician who just had a previous single featured an international K-pop icon. Split into 4 separate parts and sung in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking classical-tinged album exploring female mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical transformation, frequently via the lens of different female saints. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars upwards on this record, supported by the constant presence of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within a vast roll call of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the work of contemporary pop stars look quite small.
Transcending Academic Pretense
That Lux manages to avoid dry intellectual posturing is nearly a miracle, and sole credit belonging to the artist. While this is not the first time project to fuse historical sounds and the present, the stakes feel far higher here, and the balancing act more precarious. The element that truly elevates her fourth release, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and inherent drama, is an essential spirit of joy. Much like the legendary artist at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. When she's breaking your heart in two, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This exuberant energy shines clearly on a stirring Italian song about a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo crashes down like cartoonish force. The song immediately shifts to the frenetic track driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic of Lux is that the listener never exactly understand—nor want to predict—what you is going to next."
Almost every song concludes at a completely distinct point than where it began. A track examines the transient trappings of fame over a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier trap-infused work begins out dark and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Balance Between Experiment & Pop
A key achievement of Lux is navigating the line of radical experimentation and broad appeal. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy hits. One track sung entirely in English builds on a refrain that seems to gather increasingly infectious hooks while it spins upward. That feat is echoed by a different expansive ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture impact of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the singing carry a sharp edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album represents popular music on a grand level, a hungry reach for high Art amid of looming artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of hidden treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. Where other big pop albums of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast where the characters at the table, some tipsy on sacred drink, flutter between conversations about historical figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most endlessly inventive visionary.
