On the surface, this album may look more like a difficult academic quiz than a new pop record by an artist who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop star. Split across 4 distinct parts and sung in 13 tongues, we have a head-spinning symphonic work investigating female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily transformation, frequently through the perspective of different women saints. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—soars skyward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a vast list of contributors. The pure audacity alone makes the efforts of contemporary artists look rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux succeeds in transcend overly academic posturing feels nearly a miracle, with complete credit going to the artist. Although it's not the first time project to blend historical sounds with the present, its stakes are much greater here, and the balancing act more precarious. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of playfulness. Much like the legendary artist at her peak, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she's breaking your heart apart, you nevertheless desire to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This playful spirit shines clearly during a stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Then, everything drops away, and we hear a spontaneous giggle and a declaration before a comically exaggerated string crescendo thuds down with comedic impact. The track immediately shifts to the frenetic single driven by racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.
"The magic with Lux lies in the listener rarely quite know—or even wish to predict—where you is going next."
Nearly every song ends in a completely distinct place than how it began. A track examines the fleeting nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration only to collapsing into electronic cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work starts out dark and brooding, featuring menacing beats, before sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to soften its jagged edges.
The Balance Between Experiment and Pop
A key balancing act on the album involves straddling the line of bold experimentation and broad appeal. This is little surprise that it has achieved her first release to crack the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. A song performed entirely in English swells on a refrain that feels to collect increasingly infectious hooks while it spins skyward. That feat gets repeated on a different expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving layered tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it shares the cultural impact of other breakup anthems, lambasting a former partner described as an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a sharp smile, like a storybook character concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of buried gems that requires time to completely mine but never seem like hard work. Where some big releases of the year felt like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish banquet at which the characters around it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary musical from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.
