When Rosalía Vila Tobella was little, time spent with her grandmother meant that the sound of Pavarotti’s classic aria could be heard throughout the house. That atmosphere lingers in the memory of the Catalan artist who has reached his fourth album. “I want to understand how other languages work,” Rosalía said in an interview with the New York Times; the goal is to create a recording so large that it contains places, perspectives, and sounds that are far from each other. With “Lux”, this desire is realized in a monumental work: thirteen idioms – even the Sicilian language in “Focu ‘ranni” – are interwoven like instruments, a symphonic orchestration, a Catalan choir and the presence of Björk and Yves Tumor, suspended between the altar and the Berlin club Berghain. Recorded between London, Barcelona and Reykjavík, “Lux” is the result of two years of obsessive study. Rosalía surrounds herself with the London Symphony Orchestra and Caroline Shaw, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and the singer’s favorite collaborator, building a bridge between liturgy and pop, between Gregorian chant and electronic glitch. It is a journey filled with “feminine mysticism”, in which the experiences of saints from distant times and places resonate.
From flamenco school to global pop
Starting with the contemporary folk “Los Ángeles” in 2017, the following year Rosalía rewrote flamenco via electronics on “Con El Mal Querer.” “Motomami,” released in 2022, is a collage of reggaeton, art pop, and vulnerability that made her an icon of hybridity. “Lux” represents a return to essence, but through chaos. Like Björk before her, Rosalía seems to think in contradictions. Each album is a reaction to the previous album, perhaps due to the “confidence” the artist speaks of, stating that this comes from a lack of fear of failure. This idea is reinforced by Ocean Vuong’s books, from which Rosalía learns that imperfection is synonymous with humanity and that not fully achieving what we set ourselves is not a tragedy.
A collection of sounds in transformation
Listening to “Lux” is like walking through a cathedral under construction. Each song opens a different passage. “Porcelana” combines Japanese and handclaps, “La Perla” is a waltz accompanied by laughter, “La Rumba del Perdón” provides fun by reinventing fado. “La Yugular” expresses in music the concept of the Islamic religion which states that the individual must recognize his place in creation and his relationship with God. Rosalía’s voice, now operatic, now skinned, holds the tension together in a record that is as conceptual as it is emotional. This album, although divided into several movements, brings pop music back to its most literal meaning, “popular”, in the sense of sharing what is human. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the album, after the introduction with the piano, the first human sound is a sigh. Of course, some moments seem more a stylistic exercise than a revelation. However, at risk there is an idea of contemporary art that is subtle, dissatisfied and unafraid of dialogue with different levels of aesthetics and meaning. Along the way, “Lux” is proof that pop music is still capable of presenting mystery.
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