On the surface, Lux might appear more like an arduous academic quiz than a new popular music record from an artist who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Broken across four different parts and sung in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying symphonic album that delves into feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and bodily transformation, often through the prism of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, supported by the lush sound of a major symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a vast roll call of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself makes the efforts of other pop stars look quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That Lux manages to avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, with sole praise belonging to the artist. Although this is not her first album to blend the past with modern styles, the stakes are much higher on Lux, with the tightrope walk far more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent drama, proves to be an essential spirit of playfulness. Similar to the iconic artist during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. When she's tearing your heart apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit comes forth brightly during the stunning piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Suddenly, everything drops away, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string crescendo crashes down like cartoonish impact. The track then shifts into the wild single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from none other than herself.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener rarely quite understand—nor wish to know—where it will go next."
Almost each track concludes at a completely different point from where it began. One moment examines the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before collapsing in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous trap-infused work begins off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, until sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth its jagged corners.
The Balance Of Experiment & Pop
Another crucial balancing act of the album involves straddling the line of bold experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is little surprise that it has become her highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a collection of truly undeniable hits. A song performed primarily in the English language swells around a refrain that seems to collect more and more infectious melodies as it spins upward. This feat is echoed on another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating a former lover described as an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the singing have a sharp edge, like a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
This album is popular music on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry amid of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic drama that masterfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant well of hidden gems that requires time to fully mine but never seem like a chore. Where other big releases of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux is a lavish banquet where the guests at the table, some intoxicated on holy drink, flit between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly inventive practitioner.
