At first glance, this album could seem closer to a challenging academic quiz than a new popular music album from a musician whose last single was a collaboration with an international pop star. Divided across 4 distinct sections and performed in 13 languages, we have a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work investigating female mystique, religious ascent, and bodily transformation, often via the perspective of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars heavenward on this record, buoyed by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of contemporary pop stars seem quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend overly intellectual posturing is almost a miracle, and full praise belonging to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time album to blend the past with the present, the scale are far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more pronounced. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core sense of playfulness. Much like the legendary Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she is tearing your heart in two, the listener nevertheless desire to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
This playful spirit comes forth clearly during a stirring Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo thuds down with cartoonish force. The song then segues into the frenetic single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from the artist Björk.
"The charm of this album lies in the listener never exactly understand—nor wish to know—what it will go to next."
Nearly every track ends in a totally different place than where it started. One moment examines the fleeting nature of fame over a featherlight orchestration before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Another, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused style starts out dark and sinister, with prowling vocals, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and a heavenly chorus enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Pop
Another crucial balancing act on the album is straddling the gap of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. It is little surprise that the album has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of major markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song sung primarily in the English language swells on a refrain that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies as it spins skyward. That trick gets repeated on a different expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural impact of other breakup anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album is pop on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for high Art amid of looming artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its built-in excess. It is an abundant source of hidden treasure that takes patience to fully explore but never seem like hard work. Where other big releases of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the characters at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flutter from conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
