On the surface, Lux could seem more like an arduous academic challenge rather than a new popular music project from a musician who just had a previous hit featured an international K-pop icon. Split into 4 different movements and performed in 13 languages, we have a dizzying classical-tinged work exploring female mystique, religious transcendence, and physical change, often by way of the perspective of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw openness elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, supported by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast roll call of contributors. The pure audacity by itself renders the efforts of other pop stars appear rather small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend overly academic chin-stroking is almost miraculous, and sole credit going to the artist. While this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds with the present, its scale feel far higher on Lux, and the balancing act far more precarious. What really raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic Björk during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. When she is breaking your heart apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay alongside her for the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit comes forth brightly on a stunning Italian song about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for several moments. Suddenly, everything drops silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a comment prior to a hilariously over-the-top orchestral surge crashes down with cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts to the wild single driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic with this album lies in you never quite know—or even want to know—where it is going next."
Nearly each track concludes at a totally distinct place than where it started. A track examines the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate symphony only to collapsing in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier rhythmic work begins off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to smooth its rough edges.
The Balance Of Art and Accessibility
Another crucial achievement of Lux involves navigating the line of radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is no surprise that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in the English language builds on a chorus that feels to collect more and more nagging melodies while it spirals upward. This feat gets repeated by a different expansive track that grows and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number seduces with its playful, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character concealing a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album is popular music on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of impending artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism for glorious elevation, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its built-in excess. This is an abundant well of hidden gems that requires time to fully explore but never feels like a chore. Where other big pop albums of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous banquet at which the guests at it, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter from conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and common stories about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
