Rosalía, one of Spain’s top international superstars, has become a mainstream force within popular music. Rosalía’s latest project is Lux, a modern revival of classical music. In Lux, the music is performed in 13 different languages, fusing Rosalía’s flamenco roots with an operatic sound. The fluidity of the experimental sound in Lux creates a cultural imprint that is unseen, challenging the conventional norms of mainstream music.
1. Genre bending Music
Listening to Lux, it is difficult to categorize the music into a specific genre. One cannot generalize the music into a specific category due to the album’s unique fusion of different cultures and eclectic sounds. One minute, I feel like I am in Andalusia listening to flamenco, then the next minute, I am in an operatic trance through a Luciano Pavarotti-inspired ballad. The album invokes a feeling of ascension through Rosalía’s operatic prowess, rather than a set musical tone. Rosalía’s vocals ascend into a higher realm of self-transcendence. There is a liberation of emotion as she swells into songs about forgiveness, obsession, divine intervention, and resentment. The beauty of Lux is its inability to be easily digestible. I find myself re-listening to the album in pursuit of comprehending the versatility of music becoming genre-less.
2. Breaking Language Barriers
The ability for a Spanish artist to achieve international commercial success solely by singing in Spanish is a great accomplishment. Already, Rosalía’s music reaches audiences that do not understand Spanish, nor are from Spanish-speaking cultures. Though Rosalía has persisted in globalizing her music to another level through Lux, where she sings in 13 different languages, which in fact took two years to master. The fuel to make such an ambitious creative decision came from a desire to showcase connectivity within the world. Rosalía shares with The New York Times that she “belongs to the world,” and the world itself “is so connected.” Even in her lyrics, she describes every part of herself to be in cities across the world, conveying a universality within her artistry and encapsulating our shared similarities regardless of differences in customs or language.
3. Poetic storytelling
The songwriting in Lux is one of self-discovery and liberation. It uses language that is poignant and vivid in imagery to immerse the listener in its own universe. For instance, the song “La Perla” on Lux is the most descriptive and combative; she accuses a past lover of being an “emotional terrorist” and “Minefield for my sensitivity.” Using strong diction to reflect the tribulations of romance is piercing through the album’s angelic strings. The album lyrically serves as the outline of Lux’s poetic arc, driving the listener to love, loss, and forgiveness. The lyrics are not exactly linear or clear on a specific theme. Rosalía leaves it to the listener to reach their own conclusions to understand ambiguous lyrics like “With you gravity is graceful, and grace is grave.”
4. Countercultural
Lux is a contradiction to the modern musical landscape of often sensationalized lyrics and simplistic melodies. The album is minimalistic in lacking a repetitive chorus or a memorable melody to appeal to a commercialized audience. Though in some ways, Lux does appeal to the masses due to its multilingualism and various musical styles. Serving as an avant-garde project testing the boundaries of conventionality within music.
Conclusion
All in all, Lux showcases Rosalía’s versatile vocal performance transforming into various languages and musical styles. The album transports listeners outside of instant gratification, rather so into a space of stillness and tranquility. Each song reads like a Shakespearean story of living through the trials of pleasure and pain. Lux contradicts the customary sound of addictive pop ear worms to the symphonic masterpiece of Rosalía’s voice belting into an abyss of violins.