Initially, Lux could seem more like a challenging academic challenge rather than a new popular music record by a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Broken into four distinct parts and sung in thirteen tongues, this is a dizzying symphonic opus exploring feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, often by way of the perspective of various female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded openness elsewhere—is launched upwards here, supported by the lush presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer among a long list of collaborators. The pure ambition alone makes the work of contemporary artists look rather small.
Transcending Academic Pretense
That this album manages to escape dry academic chin-stroking is nothing short of miraculous, and full praise going to the artist. While this is not her first album to blend the past and modern styles, its scale feel much greater here, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. What truly elevates her fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of fun. Much like the legendary artist during her height, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she is tearing your heart in two, you still want to be alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit shines brightly on a stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for several minutes. Suddenly, everything drops away, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh and a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds down with comedic impact. The song immediately segues into the wild track featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo role from the artist herself.
"The charm of Lux is that you rarely exactly understand—or even wish to predict—what it is going to next."
Almost each track finishes at a totally different point than where it began. A track examines the fleeting trappings of fame with a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing in digital cacophony. Another, a cut echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts off dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth the song's rough corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the gap of bold innovation and broad accessibility. This is no surprise that it has become her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. One track performed entirely in English swells around a chorus that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spirals skyward. That feat is repeated by a different expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused number seduces with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux represents popular music on a grand level, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism for sublime elevation, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its own built-in excess. It is an abundant well of buried treasure that takes time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. While some major pop albums of the year felt like feasting on meal, Lux is a lavish feast where the characters at the table, some intoxicated on holy drink, flutter between conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most endlessly inventive visionary.
