On the surface, this album might appear more like a challenging scholarly quiz than the latest popular music project from a musician who just had a last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Split into 4 different movements and voiced in thirteen languages, it is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work that delves into female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, frequently through the perspective of different women saints. The end of a romance—a topic treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—soars skyward here, supported by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a long list of contributors. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the work of contemporary artists appear quite modest.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking is nothing short of miraculous, with complete credit going to the artist. Although this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds and the present, the stakes are much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more pronounced. What truly raises this fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Much like the iconic artist during her height, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls you up in its whirlwind. When she's tearing hearts apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful spirit shines brightly during a stunning piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for several moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo thuds down with cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the frenetic single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The magic of this album is that you rarely quite understand—or even want to know—what it will go to next."
Almost every track ends in a completely different point than how it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused work begins out dark and sinister, with menacing vocals, until sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to soften its rough edges.
The Balance Of Experiment and Pop
A key achievement on Lux is straddling the gap of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is little surprise that the album has achieved her first work to break into the Top 5 of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly catchy hits. A song performed primarily in English swells around a refrain that seems to gather more and more infectious hooks as it spins skyward. That trick gets echoed on another expansive ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms via its playful, theatrical flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing have a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have the podium of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
Lux is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried gems that takes time to fully mine but doesn't feels like hard work. Where other major releases of 2025 seemed like feasting on meal, this record offers a sumptuous banquet at which the guests at it, some tipsy on holy drink, flutter from conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about hopeless men. It is a contemporary musical from pop's truly endlessly inventive practitioner.
