Initially, this album might appear more like a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest pop project from a musician who just had a last hit featured an international pop star. Broken across 4 distinct sections and voiced in 13 tongues, this is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work investigating feminine mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently by way of the lens of various women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with raw openness elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, buoyed by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer among a vast roll call of contributors. Its sheer ambition alone makes the efforts of other artists appear rather small.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that this album manages to avoid overly academic posturing is nothing short of miraculous, and complete credit going to Rosalía. While it's not her first project to blend historical sounds with modern styles, its scale feel far greater here, with the balancing act far more dramatic. The element that really elevates this fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent drama, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk at her peak, you find a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she's breaking hearts in two, you nevertheless want to be right there for the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This playful energy shines brightly during the stirring piano-led ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, everything falls away, and there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo crashes down with cartoonish force. The track immediately segues into the wild single featuring galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The charm of this album is that you never exactly understand—or even want to know—where you is going to next."
Almost every song concludes in a totally different place than where it started. One moment explores the transient trappings of fame over a featherlight symphony before disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Another, a cut echoing the artist's previous trap-infused work starts off dark and brooding, with prowling vocals, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to soften the song's rough corners.
The Bridge Of Art & Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act on the album is straddling the gap of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is little coincidence that it has become her first release to break into the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song sung entirely in the English language builds on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging melodies while it spirals upward. This trick gets echoed by a different expansive ballad that expands and constricts, weaving layered melodies as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting a former lover labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Across the album, the singing have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its own built-in excess. This is an abundant well of buried gems that takes time to completely mine but never seem like a chore. While other major releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the characters at it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flutter between discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about useless men. It is a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
