🔗 Share this article

At first glance, this work could seem more like a challenging university challenge than a new pop album by an artist who just had a last hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split across 4 different sections and sung in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying orchestral-influenced opus investigating female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently via the prism of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—soars skyward on this record, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself renders the efforts of other pop stars look quite small.

Transcending Scholarly Pretense

That Lux succeeds in transcend dry academic posturing is nearly a miracle, with sole praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first project to blend the past with modern styles, the ambitions are far higher here, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. The element that truly elevates this fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be a core spirit of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you into its tornado. Even when she is tearing your heart in two, you nevertheless desire to stay alongside her for the ride.

A Prime Moment of Exuberance

That exuberant spirit shines clearly during the stirring Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four moments. Suddenly, everything falls silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo crashes down like cartoonish impact. The track immediately shifts to the wild track featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from none other than Björk.

"The charm with Lux is that you rarely quite know—nor wish to know—what it is going next."

Almost each song finishes in a completely different place than how it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of fame over a delicate symphony only to collapsing in electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing the artist's previous trap-infused work begins out dark and brooding, with menacing vocals, before sudden traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to soften its jagged corners.

The Bridge Between Experiment and Pop

A key balancing act on the album is navigating the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is no coincidence that the album has become the artist's first work to crack the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English builds on a chorus that feels to collect increasingly infectious hooks while it spirals upward. That trick gets repeated on another powerful track that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate weave.

• A waltz-like song seduces with its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
• In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other breakup songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
• Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook figure concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."

An Opulent Feast for the Soul

Lux is popular music on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its built-in excess. It is an abundant source of buried gems that requires time to fully mine but never seem like hard work. Where some big releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a sumptuous banquet where the guests at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.