On the surface, Lux may look closer to a challenging university quiz than the latest popular music project by a musician who just had a last hit featured a global pop icon. Split into 4 different sections and performed in thirteen tongues, this is a dizzying symphonic album investigating feminine mystery, religious transcendence, and physical change, often by way of the lens of various women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars upwards here, buoyed by the lush presence of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long list of contributors. The pure audacity by itself makes the efforts of contemporary artists look quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That Lux succeeds in transcend overly academic chin-stroking is nearly miraculous, with full credit going to the artist. Although this is not her first project to blend the past with modern styles, the stakes feel much greater here, and the balancing act far more precarious. The element that truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. When she is breaking your heart in two, the listener nevertheless want to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
That exuberant spirit shines clearly on the stirring piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several moments. Suddenly, everything drops away, and there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically over-the-top orchestral surge thuds down like cartoonish impact. The song then segues into the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm of Lux lies in you never exactly know—nor want to predict—what you is going next."
Almost each track concludes in a completely distinct place from where it started. One moment explores the transient nature of fame over a featherlight symphony before collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous rhythmic work begins off moody and sinister, with menacing beats, before sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to smooth its rough edges.
The Bridge Of Art & Pop
Another crucial achievement of the album involves straddling the line of bold innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to gather increasingly nagging hooks as it spins upward. That feat is echoed on another powerful ballad that grows and constricts, weaving layered tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the cultural honesty of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, like a storybook figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that requires time to completely mine but doesn't seem like hard work. Where some big releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record is a sumptuous feast where the guests around the table, some intoxicated on holy wine, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the profound feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from pop's truly endlessly creative practitioner.
