Rosalía continues to hold her title as an “atypical pop star” with her new album LUX. Sung in over 13 languages, and an avant-garde style with classical roots, the two-time Grammy winning singer stretches her limits as an artist, showcasing her versatility. The album was described by Rolling Stone magazine as an “emotional arc of feminine mystique, transformation, and transcendence”, and it not only delivers, but exceeds all expectations.
The album’s biggest strength is in its instrumentation, as it grounds the music to its classical roots that allows the listeners to experience spiritual transcendence in the modern world. As Rosalía surrenders to divine intervention, so does her audience. The use of the orchestra seems very intentional; it is either overpowering or silent depending on when the singer is in control of her emotions, versus when she has submitted herself completely to the higher calling.
At its core, the album is an exploration of love in all its forms. It is earthly love that contains heartbreak and chaos, and it is also divine love that is made up of peace and submission. LUX almost feels like an emotional transformation, as the singer moves through heartbreak, to hatred, to self-discovery, and the discovery of God. She goes on a journey that leads her to find peace in devotion. We begin to see this realisation in ‘Divinize’, where she compares each vertebra to the bead of a rosary, as through each one she learns more about herself. (“Each vertebra reveals a mystery // Pray on my spine, it’s a rosary”). This refers to the way Catholics pray on the rosary, the beads revealing joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries. The religious theme is significant here as it leads her to her destination: God (“I know that I was meant to divinize”).
While the lyrics (and the language) have the depth to bring these themes to life, it is the music that completes the experience. A perfect example of this intelligent composition is ‘Berghain’, that uses the violin crescendo to convey the angst, fury, and blood (“Seine Angst ist meine Angst // Seine Wut ist meine Wut”), which is then washed off completely as the music quietens with the lyrics “The only way to save us is through divine intervention”. The lyrics are already compelling, and using German, a powerful language, is an added emphasis that makes the impact that much stronger as everything softens at the climax of the song. Just as the violin personifies the negative, earthly emotions, the piano is symbolic of the heavenly ones, and the peace.
Rosalía’s classical background is her greatest weapon here, and she wields it expertly to make this album the masterpiece that it is. Her range can be seen throughout, but is most apparent in tracks 4 and 5. Her voice transitions from strong (‘Porcelana’), to soft, to operatic (‘Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti’), just as she transitions from heartbreak to serenity, from earth to heaven. The operatic projection is highly captivating, and complements the orchestral elements perfectly to convey the depth of her emotions, and the heavenly power that she feels. There is also an element of religious choir sprinkled throughout that takes centre stage at the very end, in ‘Magnolias’, signifying the “divine intervention” that is finally here to save her: “Dios desciende // y yo asciendo” (“God descends // and I ascend”) . It is here that she surrenders herself completely to a life of devotion, “turns to dust to return to them” (“Hoy me convierto en polvo // pa’ volver con ellas“), and finds peace.
With LUX, Rosalía has given us a classical pop symphony, as she continues to explore her creativity to create genre-bending music.
Words by Anushka Kulkarni
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