At first glance, this work might appear closer to a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest popular music album from a musician whose last single was a collaboration with a global pop icon. Split into 4 distinct sections and performed in thirteen languages, it is a dizzying orchestral-influenced album exploring female mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal transformation, often via the perspective of different women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive list of contributors. The pure ambition alone makes the work of contemporary artists look quite modest.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, and full credit going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to fuse historical sounds with the present, its scale are far greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that truly raises her fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of joy. Much like the legendary Björk during her height, there is a wondrous sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she is tearing your heart apart, you still desire to stay right there for the ride.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This playful energy comes forth clearly on the stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, and we hear a gleeful laugh and a comment before a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo thuds in with comedic force. The track immediately segues into the frenetic single driven by racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from none other than Björk.
"The magic of Lux lies in you rarely quite know—nor want to predict—where you is going next."
Nearly every track finishes in a totally different point than how it began. A track examines the transient trappings of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration before collapsing in electronic chaos. Another, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused style starts out moody and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to soften the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Art and Pop
Another crucial balancing act on Lux is navigating the line between bold experimentation and broad appeal. It is no surprise that it has become the artist's first release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in English swells around a chorus that feels to collect more and more infectious hooks while it spins skyward. This trick is echoed on a different expansive track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes as a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces with its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of hidden gems that requires time to completely explore but doesn't feels like a chore. While other major releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the characters at the table, some intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about ancient saints, the profound feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
