Initially, Lux might appear closer to a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest pop album from an artist who just had a last single featured an international pop icon. Split across four different sections and performed in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning orchestral-influenced work that delves into female mystique, spiritual ascent, and bodily transformation, often by way of the perspective of various female saints. The end of a romance—a topic treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is launched skyward here, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among a vast roll call of contributors. The pure audacity by itself makes the efforts of other pop stars appear quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album succeeds in transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly miraculous, and complete praise belonging to the artist. Although it's not her first project to blend historical sounds and modern styles, the stakes feel far greater here, and the tightrope walk more pronounced. The element that truly raises her fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core spirit of playfulness. Much like the legendary Björk at her height, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she's breaking hearts in two, the listener still desire to be right there through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit shines clearly during the stirring Italian song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four moments. Then, everything drops away, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string surge crashes down with cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts into the frenetic single featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm of Lux lies in you rarely quite understand—or even wish to predict—what you will go to next."
Nearly each track concludes at a completely different point than how it started. A track explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a delicate symphony before disintegrating into digital chaos. Another, a song echoing the artist's previous rhythmic work starts out dark and brooding, featuring menacing beats, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to soften the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Art & Pop
A key achievement on the album involves straddling the line between radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is little surprise that it has become her first release to crack the upper reaches of key markets: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. A song sung entirely in English swells around a chorus that seems to gather more and more infectious melodies while it spins upward. This feat gets echoed by a different powerful track that expands and contracts, weaving layered melodies as a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song charms via its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns the cultural impact of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook character concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have the podium of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album represents pop on a maximalist scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its own inherent excess. It is a deep well of buried treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While some major pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, this record offers a sumptuous feast where the characters at the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy wine, flutter between conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day musical from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
