On the surface, this album may look closer to an arduous academic examination rather than the latest pop project by a musician who just had a previous single featured a global pop star. Broken across four distinct movements and voiced in thirteen languages, it is a dizzying symphonic album that delves into female mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal transformation, often via the perspective of various women saints. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, supported by the lush sound of a full orchestra and work from an award-winning composer among an extensive list of collaborators. The pure daring alone makes the efforts of other pop stars look quite small.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
That Lux manages to transcend dry academic chin-stroking is nearly miraculous, and full credit going to the artist. Although this is not the first time album to blend the past with the present, the stakes feel far greater here, with the tightrope walk more dramatic. The element that truly elevates this fourth album, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you into its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This playful energy comes forth brightly on a stirring piano-led ballad about a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music drops away, and we hear a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo crashes in with comedic force. The track then segues into the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic with this album is that the listener rarely quite know—nor wish to know—what you will go next."
Nearly every song concludes at a totally different point from where it started. One moment explores the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work begins out dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Balance Between Art and Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves straddling the line of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is no coincidence that the album has become the artist's first release to crack the Top 5 of major markets: its heart contains a suite of utterly undeniable hits. One track performed entirely in the English language swells on a refrain that feels to collect increasingly nagging melodies while it spins upward. This feat gets repeated by another powerful ballad that expands and constricts, weaving layered melodies like a complex weave.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent excess. It is a deep well of hidden gems that takes time to fully mine but never feels like hard work. While other major releases of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the characters at it, some intoxicated on holy wine, flutter between discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common stories about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from music's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
