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Initially, Lux could seem closer to an arduous university quiz than a new popular music album from an artist whose last hit was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Broken across 4 different movements and voiced in thirteen languages, this is a breathtaking classical-tinged work that delves into female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, often by way of the perspective of various women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot upwards here, buoyed by the constant sound of a major orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of contemporary pop stars seem quite laughable.

Rising Above Academic Exercise

That Lux succeeds in escape overly academic posturing is almost a miracle, and sole praise belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to blend the past and the present, the ambitions are much greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more dramatic. What truly raises this fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of joy. Similar to the legendary artist at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener up in its tornado. When she's tearing hearts in two, the listener nevertheless desire to be alongside her for the journey.

A Signature Example of Exuberance

This playful energy shines brightly during the stunning piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four minutes. Then, all the music drops away, and we hear a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo crashes in with cartoonish impact. The track then segues into the frenetic single driven by galloping strings, a powerful choir, and a surprise appearance from none other than herself.

"The magic of this album lies in you never quite understand—or even wish to know—what you is going to next."

Almost every track finishes in a completely distinct place than how it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity with a delicate orchestration before collapsing in digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts out dark and sinister, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus arrive to soften the song's jagged edges.

The Balance Of Experiment and Pop

A key achievement of Lux involves navigating the line of bold experimentation and broad appeal. This is little coincidence that the album has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in the English language swells around a refrain that feels to gather increasingly nagging hooks while it spins skyward. This feat gets repeated by another powerful track that grows and constricts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex weave.

• A dance-infused song seduces via its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
• Lyrically, it shares the cultural impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting an ex- lover labeled an "psychological bully".
• Across these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."

A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul

Lux represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry in an era of impending artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption for sublime transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its built-in excess. It is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes patience to fully mine but doesn't feels like hard work. While some big releases of the year felt like a meager meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the guests around the table, some intoxicated on holy drink, flutter between conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.