On the surface, this album could seem more like a challenging academic examination rather than the latest popular music album from an artist who just had a previous hit featured a global pop star. Split across 4 distinct sections and performed in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking symphonic opus investigating female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, often through the perspective of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a topic handled with grounded openness elsewhere—soars upwards on this record, carried by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among a vast list of contributors. The pure daring alone makes the efforts of other pop stars look quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that Lux manages to avoid overly intellectual posturing feels nearly miraculous, and full praise going to Rosalía. While it's not her first project to alchemize historical sounds and the present, the scale are far higher here, and the tightrope walk more pronounced. What truly elevates her fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of joy. Much like the iconic artist at her peak, there is a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is breaking hearts apart, the listener nevertheless want to be alongside her for the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful energy shines clearly during a stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment prior to a hilariously over-the-top string surge crashes down like cartoonish force. The track then shifts into the wild single driven by racing strings, a powerful choir, and a cameo role from none other than herself.
"The charm with this album lies in you never quite know—or even wish to predict—what you is going next."
Almost every track finishes in a completely different place than where it began. A track explores the transient trappings of fame with a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing in digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off moody and brooding, with prowling vocals, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth its rough edges.
The Balance Of Art & Accessibility
Another crucial achievement of the album is navigating the line of bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is no surprise that the album has become her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. One track sung entirely in English builds around a chorus that seems to gather increasingly nagging hooks while it spirals skyward. This trick is echoed on a different expansive track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like a complex weave.
- A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural impact of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a grand level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its built-in ridiculousness. This is a deep well of buried treasure that takes patience to completely explore but never seem like a chore. While other big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast where the guests around it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared gossip about useless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most endlessly creative practitioner.
