On the surface, this album may look more like a challenging university examination than a new popular music album by an artist whose previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Divided across four separate sections and sung in thirteen tongues, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged album investigating female mystery, religious transcendence, and bodily change, frequently through the prism of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards here, carried by the constant presence of a full orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive list of contributors. The pure audacity alone makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars look rather modest.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album manages to escape dry intellectual posturing is nothing short of a miracle, and full credit going to the artist. While it's not the first time album to fuse historical sounds and the present, the ambitions are far greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. What really raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Much like the legendary artist during her peak, there is a wondrous sense to the vocalist's singing which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. Even when she is tearing your heart apart, you nevertheless want to stay right there for the journey.
A Signature Moment of Joy
That exuberant energy shines brightly on a stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music drops away, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated string surge thuds in with cartoonish impact. The track immediately shifts into the frenetic single featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm with this album lies in the listener never exactly understand—or even want to predict—what you is going next."
Nearly each track finishes at a totally distinct place than how it started. One moment examines the transient nature of celebrity with a delicate orchestration before disintegrating in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing her previous trap-infused work begins off dark and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, until sudden flamenco handclaps and a heavenly chorus arrive to soften its rough edges.
The Balance Between Experiment and Accessibility
A key balancing act on the album involves straddling the line between radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is no surprise that the album has become the artist's highest-charting work to crack the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy hits. One track performed primarily in English swells on a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spirals skyward. This feat gets repeated on a different powerful track that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number seduces with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing have a sharp smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
Lux is popular music on a grand level, a hungry grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, creating a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of buried gems that requires time to fully explore but never seem like a chore. While some major pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests at it, some tipsy on sacred drink, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day musical from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.
