Initially, Lux could seem more like an arduous scholarly challenge than a new pop album from a musician whose last hit featured an international K-pop icon. Broken into four distinct parts and voiced in 13 tongues, this is a dizzying symphonic album investigating female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, often via the perspective of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, carried by the constant sound of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast roll call of contributors. The pure ambition by itself renders the work of contemporary pop stars appear quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
That this album manages to escape dry intellectual posturing is nearly a miracle, with sole praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds and the present, its scale are far greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk far more precarious. What truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic artist during her peak, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she's breaking hearts apart, you still want to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful energy shines brightly during the stunning Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several moments. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated string crescendo crashes in like cartoonish force. The song immediately segues to the wild single driven by racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm of this album lies in you never quite understand—or even want to know—where you is going next."
Almost each song finishes in a completely different point than where it started. A track examines the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate orchestration before disintegrating into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her previous trap-infused style starts out dark and sinister, with prowling beats, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir enter to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Experiment and Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves straddling the line of radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is little surprise that it has become her first work to break into the Top 5 of major markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly catchy hits. A song performed entirely in the English language builds around a refrain that seems to gather more and more infectious hooks while it spins skyward. This trick is repeated on a different expansive ballad that grows and constricts, intertwining layered melodies like an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural honesty of other breakup songs, lambasting a former partner described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album represents popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of hidden treasure that requires patience to completely explore but never feels like hard work. Where other big releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record offers a sumptuous banquet at which the characters around the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flit between discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
