Rosalia: Lux review a demanding, distinctive clash of classical and chaos that couldn't be by anyone else

"At one juncture, the interviewer asked if she didn't think that Lux was demanding a lot from her listeners: a not entirely unreasonable question, given that it features a song cycle in four movements, based on the lives of various female saints and involves the 33-year-old Catalan star singing in 13 different languages to the thunderous accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra; and that it sounds nothing whatsoever like its predecessor, 2022's Motomami."

"Absolutely, she responded, framing Lux as a reaction to the quick-fix dopamine hit of idly scrolling social media: something you had to focus on. Demanding a lot from her listeners didn't seem like something Rosalia was terribly bothered about, which is, in a sense, surprising. Pop has seldom seemed more prone to user-friendliness, to demanding as little as it can from its audience, as if the convenience of its primary means of transmission has affected its sound: it occasionally feels as though streaming's algorithms always coming up with something new that's similar to stuff you already know have started to define the way artists prosecute their careers."

"Then again, Rosalia has form when it comes to challenging her fanbase: variously infused with reggaeton, hip-hop, dubstep, dembow and experimental electronica, Motomami represented a dramatic pivot away from her 2018 breakthrough, El Mal Querer, a pop overhaul of flamenco that incredibly began life as the singer's college project. It seems oddly telling that the biggest guest star on Lux is Bjork, whose distinctive tone appears during Berghain, somewhere in between a resounding orchestral arrangement, Rosalia's own operatic vocals and the sound of Yves Tumor reprising Mike Tyson's I'll fuck you til you love me tirade over and over again."

Lux presents a deliberate, demanding musical project built as a four-movement song cycle based on the lives of female saints and performed with the London Symphony Orchestra. Rosalía sings in thirteen languages and positions Lux as an antidote to quick, dopamine-driven social media consumption, insisting the music requires focused listening. The album departs sharply from 2022's Motomami and continues a pattern of artistic pivots that blend reggaeton, hip-hop, dubstep, dembow and experimental electronica. A prominent guest appearance by Björk underscores Rosalía's alignment with daring, genre-defying collaborators and unconventional pop trajectories.

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