At first glance, this album may look more like a challenging academic challenge rather than a new popular music project from a musician who just had a previous single featured a global pop icon. Divided into 4 distinct sections and performed in 13 tongues, this is a head-spinning symphonic album that delves into feminine mystery, religious ascent, and corporal change, often via the prism of various women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched heavenward here, supported by the constant sound of a major symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a long roll call of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone renders the work of contemporary artists seem rather laughable.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album manages to escape overly academic chin-stroking is nearly miraculous, with full praise going to the artist. While this is not the first time album to fuse the past and the present, the scale are much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that really raises this fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is a core spirit of playfulness. Similar to the legendary Björk at her height, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls you up in its tornado. When she's tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
This playful spirit comes forth brightly during the stunning Italian song inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls silent, and there's a gleeful giggle and a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down with comedic force. The song then segues to the wild track driven by racing orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux lies in the listener never exactly understand—or even want to know—where you is going to next."
Almost each song ends in a totally distinct point than where it started. A track explores the transient trappings of fame over a delicate orchestration before collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic work begins out dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to soften the song's rough edges.
The Balance Of Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act on Lux is navigating the line of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that the album has achieved her first work to crack the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy pop songs. One track sung entirely in English swells on a refrain that seems to gather more and more infectious hooks as it spirals skyward. This trick is echoed by a different powerful track that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating an ex- partner described as an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
Lux is pop on a grand level, a hungry grasp for high artistry amid of looming artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its own inherent excess. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes patience to completely explore but never seem like a chore. Where other big releases of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record is a sumptuous feast at which the characters around it, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flit between discussions about historical saints, the profound sensation of soul-shattering grief, and shared gossip about useless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most endlessly creative practitioner.
