đź”— Share this article Our Leading Album of the Year: RosalĂa's Lux Takes the Top Spot. On the surface, Lux could seem more like a difficult scholarly quiz than the latest pop album from an artist who just had a last hit was a collaboration with a global pop icon. Split into four separate parts and voiced in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking classical-tinged opus investigating feminine mystery, religious ascent, and physical transformation, frequently through the prism of various female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long roll call of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the work of contemporary artists seem quite small. Rising Above Academic Exercise That this album manages to avoid dry academic chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, with sole praise going to the artist. Although this is not the first time album to fuse the past with modern styles, its ambitions feel far higher here, and the balancing act far more precarious. What truly elevates her fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist during her peak, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice which sweeps you into its whirlwind. When she is tearing your heart apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay right there through the journey. A Prime Moment of Exuberance That playful energy shines brightly during the stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a comment before a comically exaggerated string surge crashes down with cartoonish impact. The song then shifts into the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist Björk. "The magic of this album is that you never exactly understand—nor want to know—what it will go next." Nearly each track concludes in a totally different place than how it began. A track examines the fleeting trappings of celebrity with a delicate symphony only to disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused style begins out dark and sinister, with menacing vocals, before sudden traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth its rough corners. The Bridge Of Experiment and Pop Another crucial balancing act on Lux involves navigating the line of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. It is little coincidence that the album has achieved her first release to break into the Top 5 of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. A song sung entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to gather increasingly infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This feat gets repeated on a different expansive ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining layered melodies as an intricate tapestry. A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus. In its words, it aligns the cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover described as an "psychological bully". Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown." A Maximalist Feast for the Ears Lux represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art in an era of impending artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of hidden treasure that requires patience to completely mine but never seem like a chore. Where other major pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record offers a lavish feast where the guests at it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flutter between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.