Initially, this album may look closer to an arduous scholarly quiz than a new popular music project by an artist who just had a last single featured an international pop star. Split across four distinct sections and voiced in thirteen tongues, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged work exploring female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, often by way of the lens of different saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a topic handled with raw openness elsewhere—soars heavenward on this record, carried by the constant presence of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity alone makes the work of contemporary pop stars look quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That Lux succeeds in avoid dry academic chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with complete praise going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to blend the past and modern styles, its ambitions are much higher on Lux, with the balancing act far more pronounced. What really elevates this fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core sense of playfulness. Much like the iconic artist at her height, you find a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener up in its tornado. When she is breaking hearts in two, the listener nevertheless want to stay right there for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant energy shines clearly on a stirring piano-led ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, and we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds in with cartoonish impact. The song immediately segues into the wild single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.
"The magic of this album lies in you rarely quite know—or even want to know—what it will go to next."
Almost every song ends at a totally different place than how it started. One moment examines the transient trappings of fame with a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing her previous rhythmic work starts out moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to soften the song's rough corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act of the album is straddling the line between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed entirely in English swells on a refrain that feels to gather increasingly nagging hooks as it spins skyward. This feat gets repeated on another powerful track that grows and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture honesty of other breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing carry a sharp smile, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
Lux is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high Art amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep well of buried gems that takes patience to fully explore but never feels like hard work. Where some big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record offers a lavish banquet where the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flit from discussions about ancient saints, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
