At first glance, this album may look closer to a difficult scholarly examination than a new popular music record from an artist whose last hit featured a global K-pop icon. Divided across 4 different parts and sung in thirteen tongues, this is a breathtaking classical-tinged work that delves into female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily change, frequently through the perspective of various saintly figures. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded openness elsewhere—is launched skyward on this record, buoyed by the constant sound of a major symphony orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure ambition alone renders the efforts of contemporary artists look rather modest.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid overly intellectual posturing feels nearly miraculous, with sole praise belonging to the artist. Although it's not her first album to fuse the past with modern styles, the scale are much higher here, with the tightrope walk more pronounced. The element that really raises this fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, rich compositions, and engrained drama, is an essential spirit of joy. Similar to the iconic artist during her peak, you find a captivating sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. When she is breaking hearts in two, the listener nevertheless desire to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful energy shines clearly on the stirring Italian song inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over several minutes. Suddenly, everything falls away, and we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds in like cartoonish force. The song immediately shifts to the frenetic track driven by racing strings, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm with this album lies in the listener never quite understand—or even wish to predict—where you will go to next."
Nearly every track finishes in a totally different place from how it began. One moment explores the transient trappings of fame over a featherlight symphony before disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts out dark and brooding, with menacing beats, until fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic choir enter to smooth its jagged corners.
The Bridge Between Art and Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act on the album is straddling the gap of bold innovation and broad accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in the English language swells on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly infectious melodies while it spins skyward. That trick gets echoed by another expansive track that expands and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural impact of contemporary breakup songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
Lux is pop on a grand level, a hungry reach for capital-A Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism for sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes patience to fully mine but doesn't seem like a chore. While some big pop albums of the year felt like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast at which the characters at it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared stories about useless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
