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On the surface, this album might appear more like an arduous academic quiz rather than the latest pop album from an artist who just had a last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Broken across four separate movements and voiced in thirteen tongues, this is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced work exploring feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and physical change, often via the prism of different women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with raw openness elsewhere—is launched heavenward on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long roll call of collaborators. Its sheer daring alone renders the work of contemporary artists appear rather laughable.

Transcending Academic Exercise

The fact that this album manages to transcend dry academic chin-stroking feels almost miraculous, with sole praise belonging to the artist. While this is not her first album to fuse the past and the present, its ambitions are much higher on Lux, and the balancing act far more pronounced. The element that really raises this fourth release, beyond its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core sense of joy. Much like the iconic artist during her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is breaking hearts apart, you nevertheless want to be alongside her through the ride.

A Prime Moment of Exuberance

This playful energy shines brightly during the stirring Italian song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, all the music drops silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous laugh and a comment prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds down with cartoonish force. The song then segues into the wild track driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.

"The charm with this album lies in you never quite know—nor wish to know—what you is going to next."

Nearly each song finishes in a totally different point from where it started. A track explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her earlier trap-infused work starts off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to smooth its rough corners.

The Balance Between Art and Accessibility

A key balancing act of Lux involves navigating the gap of bold experimentation and broad appeal. This is little surprise that it has become her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English swells on a chorus that seems to collect more and more nagging melodies while it spirals upward. This feat gets echoed on a different powerful track that expands and constricts, intertwining layered tunes as a complex weave.

• A waltz-like song seduces via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
• In its words, it aligns the cultural honesty of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
• Across the album, the singing carry a sharp smile, like a storybook character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."

An Opulent Banquet for the Ears

Lux represents pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for high Art amid of impending AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of hidden treasure that takes time to completely explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other big releases of the year felt like a meager meal, this record offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters at it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's truly endlessly inventive practitioner.