Initially, Lux may look more like a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest pop record by a musician whose last hit featured a global K-pop icon. Broken across four different movements and sung in thirteen tongues, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged opus exploring feminine mystery, religious ascent, and bodily transformation, frequently by way of the prism of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with raw honesty elsewhere—soars heavenward here, buoyed by the constant sound of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer among an extensive list of collaborators. The pure daring alone makes the work of contemporary pop stars look quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking is nearly a miracle, with full credit belonging to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to fuse the past with the present, its ambitions are much greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk more pronounced. What really elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and inherent drama, proves to be an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, there is a captivating sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart apart, the listener still want to be alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant energy shines clearly on a stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music drops silent, and there's a gleeful laugh and a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo thuds in like comedic force. The song immediately shifts into the frenetic track featuring galloping strings, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album lies in the listener rarely exactly know—or even wish to predict—where it is going next."
Nearly each song ends in a completely different point than how it began. A track explores the fleeting nature of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing in electronic chaos. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic style begins off dark and sinister, with menacing beats, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Bridge Between Art & Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves navigating the gap between radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is little surprise that the album has achieved her first work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. A song sung entirely in English swells on a chorus that feels to gather increasingly infectious hooks as it spins upward. This feat is repeated on another powerful track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered melodies as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its playful, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it aligns the cultural impact of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating an ex- partner described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album is pop on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for high artistry in an era of impending artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its inherent ridiculousness. It is a deep well of buried treasure that takes patience to completely explore but never seem like hard work. While other big releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous banquet at which the guests around the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flit from conversations about historical figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
