On the surface, Lux could seem more like a challenging university challenge rather than a new popular music project by an artist who just had a last hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Broken into 4 different movements and voiced in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying symphonic work investigating feminine mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently via the perspective of various female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with raw openness elsewhere—is launched skyward here, carried by the constant presence of a full orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long list of contributors. The pure audacity by itself makes the work of other artists appear quite modest.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
That this album succeeds in escape dry intellectual chin-stroking is nearly a miracle, and complete praise going to Rosalía. While it's not her first album to fuse historical sounds and the present, its ambitions are far greater on Lux, and the balancing act far more precarious. What really elevates this fourth album, beyond its complex melodies, rich compositions, and inherent drama, proves to be a core sense of fun. Much like the iconic Björk at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's singing which sweeps you into its tornado. When she's breaking hearts in two, you nevertheless want to stay right there through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful energy comes forth clearly during a stunning piano-led song inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four moments. Suddenly, everything drops silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration before a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes down like cartoonish force. The song then segues into the wild track featuring racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic of this album is that you never quite understand—nor want to know—where it will go to next."
Almost every track ends in a completely distinct point than how it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of fame with a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous rhythmic style begins out dark and brooding, with prowling vocals, until fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly chorus enter to soften its rough corners.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act on the album is navigating the line between radical innovation and mainstream appeal. It is no surprise that the album has become her first work to break into the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a chorus that seems to collect more and more infectious hooks while it spirals skyward. This trick is echoed by a different powerful track that expands and contracts, weaving multiple melodies like an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns with cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album is popular music on a grand scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption for sublime transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its own inherent excess. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes time to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other major pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests at the table, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter from conversations about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly creative visionary.
