On the surface, this work may look more like a difficult university quiz rather than a new popular music project by a musician whose last hit was a collaboration with a global pop icon. Split across 4 separate sections and performed in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying orchestral-influenced album investigating feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical change, frequently via the prism of different women saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with raw openness elsewhere—is launched heavenward on this record, supported by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within a vast list of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself makes the work of other artists appear quite small.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
That Lux succeeds in escape overly academic chin-stroking is almost a miracle, with sole praise belonging to the artist. Although this is not her first album to blend historical sounds with modern styles, the stakes are much greater on Lux, and the balancing act far more precarious. What really elevates this fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be a core sense of playfulness. Much like the legendary Björk during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener up in its tornado. Even when she is breaking hearts apart, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
That playful spirit shines clearly during the stunning Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for several moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds down with comedic force. The track then shifts to the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener rarely exactly understand—nor wish to know—where it is going next."
Almost every track finishes in a completely distinct point than where it started. One moment examines the fleeting nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony before collapsing in electronic cacophony. Another, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts off moody and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth its jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Pop
A key achievement on the album is straddling the gap of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is little coincidence that it has become the artist's first work to crack the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. One track performed entirely in the English language swells around a refrain that feels to gather increasingly infectious melodies as it spins skyward. That trick is echoed by a different powerful ballad that grows and contracts, weaving layered melodies like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused number charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing carry a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art amid of looming artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its own built-in excess. It is a deep well of hidden treasure that takes patience to fully mine but never feels like a chore. While some major releases of the year seemed like a meager meal, this record is a lavish feast where the characters at it, some intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
