Initially, this album could seem closer to a challenging scholarly examination than the latest popular music album by a musician who just had a last hit was a collaboration with a global pop star. Split across four separate parts and sung in thirteen languages, we have a dizzying symphonic album exploring feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, frequently via the perspective of different saintly figures. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, carried by the constant presence of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a vast list of collaborators. The pure ambition alone makes the work of other pop stars look rather laughable.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
That this album succeeds in avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking is almost miraculous, and sole credit going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to fuse the past and modern styles, its ambitions feel much greater here, with the tightrope walk far more dramatic. What truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, you find a captivating sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls you into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, the listener nevertheless desire to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful spirit comes forth brightly during a stunning piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four moments. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh and a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string surge thuds down like cartoonish force. The track then segues to the frenetic single featuring galloping strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic of this album lies in you rarely quite know—or even want to know—what you is going next."
Nearly every track concludes in a completely distinct point from where it began. One moment examines the fleeting nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before collapsing in electronic chaos. Another, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and brooding, featuring prowling beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Experiment and Pop
Another crucial achievement on the album is navigating the line between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is no coincidence that it has become her first release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track performed entirely in the English language swells around a refrain that seems to gather increasingly infectious hooks while it spins upward. This feat gets repeated on a different expansive track that grows and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture impact of other breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a sharp smile, like a storybook figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of hidden treasure that requires patience to completely explore but never feels like a chore. Where other major pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast at which the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day musical from music's truly endlessly creative practitioner.
