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At first glance, this album could seem closer to a challenging university examination than a new pop album by an artist whose last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Broken across 4 different movements and sung in thirteen languages, we have a breathtaking orchestral-influenced opus investigating female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, often by way of the perspective of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic handled with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, supported by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning composer within a vast list of contributors. The pure daring by itself renders the work of contemporary artists appear quite modest.

Transcending Academic Exercise

The fact that this album manages to escape dry intellectual chin-stroking is nearly a miracle, with complete praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first project to alchemize historical sounds and modern styles, the stakes are far higher here, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. What really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of joy. Much like the legendary artist during her peak, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you up in its tornado. When she is tearing hearts in two, the listener still want to stay alongside her through the ride.

A Signature Moment of Exuberance

This playful energy shines brightly during the stunning Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music drops away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo crashes down with cartoonish impact. The track then shifts into the wild single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.

"The charm of Lux is that you never exactly understand—nor wish to know—what it is going next."

Nearly each song finishes in a completely different point from where it started. One moment explores the transient nature of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing in electronic chaos. Another, a cut that recalls her previous rhythmic style starts off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, before sudden traditional handclaps and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth the song's rough corners.

The Balance Between Art and Pop

A key balancing act on the album involves straddling the gap of radical innovation and mainstream appeal. It is little surprise that the album has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song performed entirely in English swells around a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious hooks while it spins skyward. That feat gets echoed by another expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate weave.

• A waltz-like number seduces via its jaunty, theatrical flair and an anthemic hook.
• In its words, it shares the cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "psychological bully".
• Across the album, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."

A Maximalist Feast for the Soul

Lux represents pop on a grand level, a hungry grasp for capital-A artistry amid of looming artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its own inherent excess. This is an abundant source of hidden gems that takes patience to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. While other big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record offers a lavish banquet at which the guests around the table, some tipsy on sacred wine, flit from conversations about ancient figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative visionary.