At first glance, this album may look more like an arduous university quiz rather than the latest popular music album by an artist whose previous single featured an international K-pop icon. Broken into four different sections and sung in 13 tongues, this is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced work exploring female mystique, religious ascent, and physical transformation, often via the lens of various female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with raw openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure daring by itself renders the work of other pop stars look rather small.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to escape overly academic chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with full credit going to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to blend historical sounds and modern styles, the stakes feel far higher here, and the balancing act far more dramatic. The element that truly raises her fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, dense arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be a core spirit of joy. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, you find a captivating quality to the vocalist's singing which sweeps the listener up in its tornado. Even when she is tearing your heart in two, you still want to be right there for the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
That exuberant energy shines clearly on a stunning Italian song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for several minutes. Suddenly, everything drops silent, to reveal there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top string surge thuds in like cartoonish force. The track then segues into the wild single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.
"The charm with this album lies in you never exactly know—or even wish to predict—what you is going to next."
Almost each song concludes in a totally different place from how it started. A track examines the transient trappings of celebrity over a featherlight symphony before disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work starts off moody and sinister, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth its jagged edges.
The Balance Between Art and Accessibility
A key achievement of the album involves straddling the gap of radical innovation and broad accessibility. This is little surprise that it has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key markets: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy hits. A song sung entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to gather increasingly infectious melodies while it spirals upward. That trick is echoed by a different expansive track that grows and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares with cultural impact of other breakup songs, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing have a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album is popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for high Art amid of looming artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent excess. It is an abundant well of buried gems that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. Where other major releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the characters around it, some tipsy on sacred drink, flit from discussions about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative visionary.
