Lux: El Nuevo Album de Rosalía

Rosalía has always been in my “I don’t get the hype” category. Motomami was not the album for me, and I’ve tried to get myself to like that album multiple times. El Mal Querer was fine, but it’s not an album I want to listen to on repeat.

When I saw Rosalía released Lux, it didn’t even cross my mind to listen to it. I know she’s super talented, and I really respect how candid she is about the years of training she put in to get her voice to where it is today, but I knew I still wouldn’t like the album. Then my friend ORDERED ME IN ALL CAPS to GO LISTEN TO LUX RIGHT NOW.

I didn’t want to. But how could I have my own blog about Latin music and then just ignore the first big release by a Latin music artist since I started the blog? (Side note: whether Rosalía should be categorized as a Latin music artist is hotly debated, but after listening to one whole podcast debating what Latin music is, I categorize her as a Latin music artist because she sings in Spanish).

My first listen confirmed what I already knew: Rosalía’s music isn’t for me. Lux is the perfect showcase of Rosalía’s voice and vocal training, but the album felt pretentious and I couldn’t listen to it without rolling my eyes. My thoughts were: “nobody asked for this album, nobody is going to listen to this,” and “who does she think she is, singing in Japanese and making a whole song in Italian (and of course she picked Italian, so she can pretend to be fancy).” And even though I have zero GRAMMYs to my name, I felt smug about how this album was a total miss.

I googled Lux for confirmation that the album sucked. I did not get that confirmation. Best album of the year? “No, that album is trash.” I decided to give it another listen a few hours later. And maybe one more listen would change my mind. And now I have listened to the album twice on Friday, three times yesterday, and twice again today. Somewhere between the third and fourth listens I decided I actually liked Lux very much. And now I would like for this album to be injected into my veins.

I don’t want to go so far as to say it’s the best album of the year (Tropicoqueta has my vote on that–yes I am biased). But Lux is definitely the most creative album I’ve heard this year. It brings out emotions I don’t normally feel when I listen to music. I feel like I’m at one of the operas my parents dragged me to as a child. It’s also impressively well-researched and well-executed, in that Rosalía worked with interpreters who speak the 13 different languages she sings in to ensure the words were accurate to her vision as well as to how the words would be said in that language. Each time I’ve listened to the album I’ve picked up on something different than the time before.

In an interview on Popcast about Lux, Rosalía said something interesting: her “favorite artists are the ones who don’t give you what you want but what you need.” I didn’t need this album, but she coincidentally responded directly to my thought the first time I listened to Lux, that no one asked for this album. Lux is really beautiful. Beautiful isn’t usually what I’m looking for with my music, but I can appreciate it and the work it took to complete it. And I shocked myself when I saved the entirety of Lux to my library on Spotify. Now Lux keeps “La Fama” company (the only other Rosalía song I’ve ever liked).

Mi Diccionario Entry: Prendar. To captivate, enchant. “Así tú te prendaste de mí, el día en que yo te conocí” – Rosalia, “Candy”