Initially, Lux could seem closer to a challenging academic examination rather than a new popular music album by a musician whose last hit featured a global K-pop icon. Broken into four different movements and sung in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying orchestral-influenced album investigating feminine mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical change, often through the perspective of different female saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is launched skyward here, supported by the constant presence of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among an extensive list of contributors. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of other artists seem rather laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
The fact that Lux manages to transcend overly intellectual posturing is nothing short of a miracle, and full credit belonging to the artist. Although this is not the first time project to fuse historical sounds and the present, the stakes are much greater here, and the balancing act far more pronounced. What truly raises this fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic Björk during her peak, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls you up in its whirlwind. When she's tearing your heart in two, you nevertheless want to stay right there for the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful energy comes forth brightly on a stunning Italian song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four moments. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh followed by a comment before a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes down like cartoonish impact. The song immediately shifts to the wild track featuring racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise role from the artist Björk.
"The magic with Lux lies in the listener rarely exactly understand—or even want to know—where it will go next."
Almost each track finishes in a totally different point from how it started. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off dark and sinister, featuring prowling vocals, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Of Experiment & Pop
A key balancing act on Lux is straddling the gap of bold innovation and broad accessibility. This is little coincidence that the album has become the artist's first work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy pop songs. A song performed entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This trick is echoed on another powerful track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural honesty of other breakup songs, eviscerating an ex- partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux represents popular music on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for high Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of hidden treasure that requires time to fully mine but never seem like a chore. Where other big releases of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous banquet at which the characters around it, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flit from conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless men. It is a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly inventive visionary.
