At first glance, this work could seem more like an arduous scholarly quiz rather than a new pop record from a musician who just had a previous single featured an international pop icon. Broken across four different parts and voiced in 13 tongues, we have a dizzying classical-tinged opus investigating female mystique, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, often by way of the prism of different women saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a topic handled with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot skyward here, carried by the lush sound of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity alone renders the efforts of contemporary pop stars look quite laughable.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That Lux manages to escape dry intellectual chin-stroking feels almost miraculous, with full praise belonging to the artist. While this is not her first album to blend the past and modern styles, its stakes are much higher here, with the tightrope walk more pronounced. What really raises this fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and inherent drama, is an essential spirit of fun. Similar to the iconic artist at her peak, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you into its whirlwind. When she is breaking hearts apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay right there for the ride.
A Signature Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit shines brightly during a stunning Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four moments. Then, everything drops away, and we hear a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo crashes in with comedic force. The track then segues into the frenetic single driven by racing orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener rarely quite understand—or even wish to know—what you is going to next."
Nearly every track ends in a completely different point from where it started. One moment examines the fleeting nature of fame with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Another, a song that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused work begins off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, before sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir arrive to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Between Art & Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves straddling the line between radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has become the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable hits. A song sung primarily in English swells on a refrain that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This trick gets echoed on a different expansive track that grows and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album is pop on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried treasure that requires time to completely explore but never seem like hard work. While some big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous banquet at which the characters at the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flit between discussions about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common stories about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly creative practitioner.
