On the surface, this work could seem closer to a difficult academic quiz rather than a new popular music album by a musician whose last hit featured a global pop icon. Divided into four separate sections and voiced in thirteen languages, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged album exploring female mystique, religious ascent, and bodily transformation, frequently by way of the prism of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with raw openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward here, carried by the constant presence of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a vast list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the work of contemporary pop stars look rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux succeeds in transcend dry intellectual posturing feels almost a miracle, and complete credit belonging to the artist. Although this is not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds with modern styles, the stakes feel far higher here, and the balancing act more precarious. The element that really raises her fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic artist at her peak, you find a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. Even when she is breaking your heart in two, you still desire to be alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful energy shines clearly during the stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, all the music drops away, and we hear a gleeful giggle and a declaration before a hilariously exaggerated string surge crashes in like comedic impact. The track then shifts to the wild track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album is that you never quite know—or even wish to know—where you will go to next."
Almost each track finishes in a totally distinct place from where it began. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing her earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and sinister, with menacing beats, before fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Pop
A key achievement on the album is straddling the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is no coincidence that the album has become the artist's first work to break into the upper reaches of major markets: at its core a collection of utterly catchy hits. A song sung primarily in the English language builds around a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies while it spins upward. That feat gets echoed by a different expansive ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture impact of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating an ex- partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a sharp smile, like a storybook character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its own inherent excess. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes patience to completely explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other major releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous banquet at which the characters at the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit between discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about useless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly endlessly inventive visionary.
