On the surface, this work may look closer to an arduous scholarly challenge rather than a new pop project from a musician whose previous single featured an international pop icon. Divided across 4 separate parts and voiced in 13 tongues, this is a dizzying symphonic work exploring female mystery, religious ascent, and bodily change, often through the lens of various women saints. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw openness elsewhere—is shot skyward here, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among a long list of contributors. The pure audacity by itself renders the efforts of other artists appear rather laughable.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with full credit going to Rosalía. While this is not the first time album to blend historical sounds and the present, the scale are much greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that truly raises this fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of joy. Much like the legendary artist at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls you up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing your heart apart, you still want to stay right there for the ride.
A Signature Example of Joy
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly on a stirring piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four moments. Then, all the music falls away, and there's a spontaneous giggle and a comment before a hilariously exaggerated string surge thuds down with cartoonish impact. The song immediately segues into the frenetic track featuring racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm of Lux lies in you rarely exactly know—nor want to predict—what it will go to next."
Almost every track finishes at a completely different point from where it began. A track explores the transient trappings of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating into digital cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's previous rhythmic work starts off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, before sudden traditional handclaps and a heavenly chorus enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Of Art and Pop
A key achievement of the album involves straddling the line of radical experimentation and broad accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable hits. A song performed primarily in the English language builds around a refrain that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spins upward. This feat is repeated on another expansive ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes like an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused song seduces via its jaunty, theatrical flair and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album represents pop on a grand level, a hungry reach for capital-A artistry in an era of looming artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of buried gems that requires patience to completely mine but doesn't seem like hard work. While some major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record offers a sumptuous banquet where the guests around it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
