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On the surface, this work could seem closer to a challenging university examination than a new popular music project from a musician whose last hit featured a global pop star. Broken into 4 different movements and performed in thirteen languages, it is a dizzying symphonic album exploring feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and physical transformation, often through the lens of different women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched skyward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity alone renders the efforts of other artists look quite laughable.

Transcending Academic Pretense

That this album succeeds in transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, and sole praise going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first project to blend the past with the present, its ambitions feel far greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk far more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk at her height, you find a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, you still desire to stay right there for the ride.

A Signature Example of Joy

This playful energy comes forth brightly on a stunning Italian song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, everything falls silent, and there's a spontaneous giggle and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string crescendo thuds down like cartoonish impact. The song then segues into the wild single driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from none other than herself.

"The magic with Lux is that you never quite know—nor want to know—where you will go next."

Nearly each song concludes at a completely distinct point than where it began. One moment examines the fleeting nature of celebrity with a delicate symphony before collapsing in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work begins out moody and brooding, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to soften the song's jagged edges.

The Balance Of Experiment & Accessibility

Another crucial balancing act of the album is navigating the gap between radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is little surprise that it has achieved the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of major markets: at its core a suite of truly undeniable hits. A song sung entirely in English builds around a chorus that seems to gather increasingly nagging melodies while it spirals skyward. This feat gets repeated on another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, weaving multiple melodies like a complex tapestry.

• A dance-infused song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
• In its words, it shares the cultural impact of other heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner described as an "psychological bully".
• Throughout the album, the singing carry a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."

A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul

This album represents popular music on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of looming artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried treasure that takes time to completely mine but never feels like a chore. Where other big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests at it, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter from conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly creative practitioner.