At first glance, this album may look more like a challenging academic examination than a new popular music project by a musician whose previous hit featured a global pop icon. Split into four different parts and performed in 13 languages, it is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced album exploring female mystery, religious ascent, and bodily change, frequently by way of the lens of different female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among a long list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself makes the work of contemporary pop stars appear rather small.
Transcending Academic Exercise
That Lux succeeds in transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, with complete credit going to the artist. While this is not the first time project to fuse the past with modern styles, its ambitions are far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more pronounced. What really raises her fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of fun. Much like the legendary Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she's tearing your heart in two, you still desire to be alongside her through the ride.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant energy comes forth clearly on a stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for several moments. Suddenly, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds down with cartoonish force. The track then shifts into the frenetic single featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic with Lux lies in you never quite know—nor wish to predict—where you is going to next."
Almost every track finishes in a totally different point from where it started. One moment examines the transient nature of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work begins out moody and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to smooth the song's rough edges.
The Balance Between Art and Accessibility
A key achievement on the album involves straddling the gap of bold innovation and broad accessibility. It is little surprise that it has become her highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of key markets: at its core a collection of utterly undeniable hits. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a chorus that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spirals upward. This trick is echoed on a different expansive ballad that expands and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album is pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep well of hidden treasure that requires time to completely mine but doesn't seem like a chore. Where other major releases of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, this record offers a lavish feast where the characters around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter between conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and shared stories about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative practitioner.
