At first glance, Lux might appear more like an arduous university examination than a new pop album by an artist who just had a previous single featured a global pop star. Split into four distinct movements and performed in 13 tongues, this is a head-spinning classical-tinged album exploring female mystique, religious ascent, and physical change, frequently through the prism of various female saints. The end of a love affair—a topic handled with raw openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive list of contributors. The pure audacity by itself makes the efforts of other artists appear quite small.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
That Lux succeeds in avoid overly intellectual posturing is almost a miracle, and full praise belonging to the artist. Although it's not the first time album to fuse the past with the present, its ambitions are far greater on Lux, and the balancing act more dramatic. The element that truly raises her fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of joy. Similar to the iconic artist at her height, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts apart, you still want to stay right there through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That playful energy shines clearly on the stunning Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over several minutes. Then, everything falls silent, and we hear a gleeful giggle and a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo crashes down with cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the wild track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from none other than herself.
"The magic with this album lies in the listener rarely quite understand—nor wish to know—what it is going to next."
Almost each track concludes at a completely different place than where it started. A track examines the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's previous rhythmic style starts off moody and sinister, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir enter to soften the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act on Lux is navigating the gap between bold innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. A song sung entirely in English builds around a refrain that feels to collect increasingly nagging hooks while it spins upward. That feat is echoed on another powerful track that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture impact of other breakup songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "emotional bully".
- Across the album, the singing carry a painted-on smile, like a storybook figure concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
Lux is pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried treasure that requires patience to completely mine but doesn't seem like a chore. Where other big releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record offers a sumptuous banquet at which the guests at it, some tipsy on sacred drink, flit between conversations about historical figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
