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Initially, this work could seem more like an arduous university examination than a new popular music album by an artist whose last hit was a collaboration with a global K-pop star. Split across 4 different movements and voiced in thirteen tongues, we have a dizzying classical-tinged album that delves into feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently through the prism of different women saints. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards here, carried by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a long list of contributors. Its sheer daring alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars look rather small.

Transcending Scholarly Exercise

That this album succeeds in transcend overly academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, with complete credit belonging to the artist. While it's not her first project to fuse historical sounds and modern styles, the ambitions are much higher here, with the balancing act more precarious. What truly raises this fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary Björk at her peak, you find a wondrous quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you up in its whirlwind. When she's tearing your heart in two, you nevertheless desire to be right there through the journey.

A Prime Moment of Exuberance

This playful energy comes forth clearly during the stunning Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music falls silent, and there's a gleeful giggle and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string surge thuds in like cartoonish force. The song then segues to the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from the artist herself.

"The charm of Lux lies in you never exactly understand—or even want to predict—what it is going to next."

Almost every song ends at a completely different point than where it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of fame with a featherlight orchestration before collapsing into digital cacophony. Another, a song echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir enter to soften the song's rough corners.

The Balance Between Experiment and Pop

A key balancing act on the album is navigating the gap between radical innovation and mainstream appeal. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in English builds around a chorus that seems to collect increasingly infectious melodies while it spins upward. That trick gets echoed on a different expansive ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as a complex weave.

• A dance-infused song charms with its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along chorus.
• In its words, it aligns the cultural honesty of other breakup songs, lambasting a former lover described as an "psychological bully".
• Throughout these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."

An Opulent Banquet for the Soul

Lux represents pop on a grand scale, a hungry reach for high Art amid of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its built-in excess. It is a deep well of buried treasure that takes time to fully explore but never feels like a chore. Where some big releases of the year seemed like a meager meal, this record is a sumptuous feast where the guests at it, some intoxicated on holy wine, flit between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.