At first glance, Lux could seem more like an arduous academic examination rather than a new popular music album by an artist whose previous hit was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Split across 4 different movements and performed in 13 languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged work investigating feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, often by way of the lens of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward here, buoyed by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long list of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself renders the efforts of contemporary artists seem rather small.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in escape dry intellectual posturing is nearly miraculous, with sole credit going to the artist. Although it's not the first time album to blend the past and the present, its stakes feel much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more dramatic. What truly raises this fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is an essential spirit of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist at her peak, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she is tearing hearts in two, the listener still want to stay right there for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit shines brightly during a stunning piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a spontaneous laugh and a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo thuds down like comedic impact. The song then shifts into the frenetic single featuring galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from the artist herself.
"The magic with Lux lies in the listener rarely quite know—or even wish to know—where you will go next."
Almost each track concludes at a totally distinct point than how it began. A track examines the fleeting nature of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration before disintegrating in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier trap-infused work begins out moody and sinister, with menacing beats, before fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth its jagged corners.
The Balance Of Experiment and Pop
A key balancing act of Lux is straddling the line of bold innovation and broad appeal. This is no surprise that the album has become her first work to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. A song performed primarily in English swells on a chorus that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spirals upward. This trick is repeated by a different powerful track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former lover described as an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a storybook character concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album represents pop on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for high artistry amid of impending artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent excess. This is an abundant source of hidden gems that takes patience to completely explore but doesn't seem like hard work. While some big releases of the year seemed like feasting on meal, Lux is a lavish feast where the characters around the table, some tipsy on sacred wine, flutter from conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about useless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative visionary.
