On the surface, this work might appear more like a challenging academic quiz rather than a new pop album by a musician who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with a global K-pop star. Divided into four separate sections and voiced in thirteen languages, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged work exploring female mystery, religious transcendence, and physical transformation, frequently by way of the prism of different women saints. The end of a romance—a theme treated with grounded openness elsewhere—soars skyward here, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer within a long roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself makes the work of contemporary artists look rather small.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to avoid dry academic posturing is nothing short of a miracle, and complete praise belonging to Rosalía. While it's not the first time album to fuse the past with the present, the ambitions feel much higher here, with the tightrope walk far more precarious. The element that really elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential spirit of playfulness. Similar to the iconic Björk at her peak, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is breaking hearts apart, the listener still desire to be alongside her through the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly on a stunning piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, and we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a comment before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo crashes down with cartoonish force. The song immediately segues into the frenetic single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album is that you rarely quite understand—or even want to predict—what you is going to next."
Almost each track ends at a totally distinct point than how it began. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic chaos. Another, a song that recalls her earlier trap-infused work begins out dark and brooding, with menacing beats, until fluttering traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Between Art & Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act on Lux is straddling the line of bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is little surprise that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in English swells on a refrain that seems to collect more and more nagging melodies as it spirals skyward. That trick gets repeated by another powerful ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused number charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating an ex- partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
Lux is pop on a grand scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent excess. This is a deep well of hidden gems that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While some major pop albums of the year felt like a meager scraps, this record is a lavish banquet at which the characters around it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter from conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
