Rosalía challenges pop with “Lux”, between mysticism and Björk

He allowed to Bjork to enter for the first time in his career the daily top ten ranking of the most listened to songs worldwide on Spotify. Not that Björk needed it, let’s be clear: but seeing the name of the Icelandic artist among those of the chart phenomena of the moment is still beautiful. Yet another miracle signed by Rosalía, the artist who made flamenco pop, who brought masterpieces of Spanish and Latin popular music to the world charts such as “La niña de fuego” by Manolo Caracol, “Delirio de grandeza” by the Cuban Justo Betancourt and “The sun of latin music” by Eddie Palmieri and many other beautiful things. Together with the voice of “Hyperballad” – and the icon of American neo-psychedelia Yves Tumor – the Catalan singer-songwriter recorded “Berghain”, the single that anticipated the release of “Lux”, her new album, in stores and on platforms from this Friday, November 7. It’s easy to understand what pushed Björk, who doesn’t indulge herself very often, to say yes to Rosalía (for the second time in two years: together they recorded “Oral” together in 2023 with which they tried to raise awareness of the cruelty and negative consequences of open-air salmon farming). “Lux” is a challenging musical exercise, which aims to bring complexity to pop and vice versa. It’s a record conceived as a symphonydivided into movements. In which Rosalía mixes electronics and strings, pop and classical, high and low, sacred and profane, singing in thirteen different languages: not only Spanish, not only English, but also German, Arabic and even the Sicilian. Albums like this don’t come out every day: «The pace of the music industry is very fast and the sacrifice, the price to pay, is very high. The driving force that drives you to keep making music, to keep creating, has to come from a place of purity. Motivations such as money, pleasure, power, I don’t consider them fertile. Nothing will come of it that really interests me. These are topics that don’t inspire me,” explains the 33-year-old Catalan musician.

Between the feminine mystique and Snow White

The main inspiration of “Lux” is the feminine mystique. Rosalía wrote the lyrics to the songs that make up the album by reading the works of thinkers like the German nun Hildegard of Bingen (lived in the twelfth century) and the philosopher Simone Weil. The magnificent video for “Berghain”, shot in Warsaw, tells of a woman who faces bereavement and struggles to mend her broken heart. He ultimately finds comfort and healing through his spirituality. Autobiographical? Maybe. In the past, Rosalía had a relationship with Rauw Alejandro, a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and rapper with whom she also released an EP, “RR”, in 2023. To the teachings of the philosophers and mystics she looked up to, Rosalía combined a bit of pop culture: the clip quotes some classic Disney scenes “Snow White and the Seven DwarfsBjörk enters the song towards the end, singing in English: «The only way to save us is through divine intervention / the only way I will be saved is through divine intervention», «The only way to save us is through divine intervention / the only way I will be saved is through divine intervention». The song, recorded together with the London Symphonic Orchestra, also features the children’s choir Escolania de Montserratone of the oldest children’s choirs in Europe based in the Benedictine abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat near Barcelona. The Berghain which gives the single its title is a famous techno club in Berlinhoused inside a former power plant: it is one of the most important underground clubs in the world, considered a mystical, hermetic and almost religious environment within electronic culture. In the context of “Lux”, “Berghain” seems to function as a meeting point between the divine and the profane: a place where music transforms into ritual.

It is no coincidence that Rosalía sings in German: «Deshalb ist mein Herz so schwer», «That’s why my heart is so heavy». In a long interview with the New York Times the artist said: «
I love travelling, I love learning from other human beings. Why shouldn’t I try to learn another language and sing in another language, thus broadening my way of being a singer, musician or artist? The world is so connected
». “Lux” cost her
two years of work
. Already last summer Rosalía had warned fans, explaining that the successor to “Motomami” would be a decidedly unexpected work. Nobody, however, expected that the musician could raise her bar so much.
The album mixes operatic tradition and pop and is described by Rosalía «like a puzzle, like a labyrinth»
. The London Symphony Orchestra appears throughout the album,
with arrangements by Pulitzer Prize winner and former Kanye West collaborator Caroline Shaw
. And who knows if at this point the tour linked to “Lux” is not a thing
theater tours
: «I am always constantly changing. Why then shouldn’t my sound change with me? And I think that my favorite artists, perhaps, are those who don’t give you what you want, but what you need”, underlines the singer-songwriter.

With “Lux” Rosalía challenges the fashions and trends of the moment and does what an artist should always do:
divide, stimulate debate
. «It’s just another way of making pop», explains Rosalìa. Who with “Lux” demonstrates that another way of making pop can actually exist: «
Björk proved it. Kate Bush proved it. And I have to think that what I do is pop, because otherwise I don’t think I’ll be successful. What I want to do is make music that I hope a lot of people will like. This is my project
».