At first glance, this work could seem more like a difficult university quiz than the latest popular music album by a musician who just had a last single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split across 4 different parts and voiced in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged opus that delves into female mystique, religious transcendence, and corporal transformation, often via the perspective of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot skyward here, carried by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of contributors. The pure audacity by itself makes the work of contemporary artists appear quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
That this album succeeds in transcend overly intellectual posturing feels almost miraculous, with full credit belonging to Rosalía. While it's not her first project to fuse the past with the present, its scale are far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more pronounced. What really elevates her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained drama, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk during her peak, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. When she's breaking your heart in two, the listener nevertheless want to be right there for the ride.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
That playful energy shines clearly on the stirring Italian song inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, all the music drops away, and there's a gleeful laugh and a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down like comedic force. The song immediately shifts to the wild single driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm of this album is that you never quite understand—or even wish to know—what you will go next."
Nearly every track finishes in a totally distinct place than where it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration before collapsing in digital cacophony. Another, a song that recalls her previous rhythmic style starts off dark and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Balance Between Art and Accessibility
A key achievement of the album is navigating the line between radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song performed primarily in the English language swells on a chorus that seems to collect more and more nagging hooks as it spins skyward. This feat is repeated by a different powerful track that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes like a complex weave.
- A waltz-like song seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high Art amid of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes patience to fully explore but never feels like a chore. While other big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on meal, Lux is a lavish banquet at which the characters at it, some tipsy on holy wine, flutter from discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
