Initially, this work could seem closer to an arduous academic examination than the latest popular music project from an artist who just had a last hit featured a global K-pop star. Broken across four distinct movements and voiced in 13 languages, it is a dizzying classical-tinged work exploring feminine mystery, spiritual ascent, and bodily change, often via the perspective of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a relationship—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward here, buoyed by the constant sound of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of contemporary artists appear quite laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
The fact that Lux manages to avoid dry academic chin-stroking feels nearly miraculous, with complete credit going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time album to fuse the past with the present, the scale feel much higher here, with the balancing act more pronounced. The element that really raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and inherent drama, is an essential sense of joy. Similar to the legendary Björk during her peak, there is a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she is breaking your heart in two, you nevertheless desire to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This playful energy comes forth brightly during the stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for several moments. Then, everything falls away, and there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down like comedic force. The song immediately segues to the frenetic track featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.
"The charm of this album lies in you rarely exactly understand—nor wish to predict—where it is going next."
Almost every track concludes at a totally distinct point from how it started. One moment examines the fleeting trappings of fame with a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Another, a song that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts out dark and sinister, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and a heavenly choir enter to soften the song's rough corners.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Pop
A key balancing act on the album involves straddling the line of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is no surprise that the album has become her first release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song sung primarily in English swells around a refrain that feels to collect increasingly infectious hooks while it spins skyward. This trick gets repeated by another expansive ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural impact of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across the album, the vocals have a sharp smile, like a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes time to fully mine but never feels like hard work. Where other major releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record offers a sumptuous feast where the guests at the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter from discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about hopeless men. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
