Earlier than Beatlemania there was Lisztomania; earlier than younger individuals have been grinding in golf equipment, they waltzed in beer halls and sang attractive operas. The feelings might really feel common, however tastes evolve. Nothing’s sexier than a 3/4 waltz someday, after which everybody decides to get down in 4/4 for a number of hundred years.
Like music, faith has a behavior of adjusting with the occasions. Rosalía‘s LUX expresses a private spirituality, impressed by her Catholic upbringing in addition to classical philosophy, new age, Islam, and her distinctive relationship with God. Made in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra underneath the conduction of Daníel Bjarnason, LUX is in fixed dialog with the favored music — and concepts — of the previous.
Philosophically and structurally, LUX shares some beats with Mozart’s Don Giovanni, that rascally, randy nobleman we’ve come to name Don Juan. In Don Giovanni, the titular villain will get out of hazard again and again, till lastly, he meets a drive he can’t defeat. After he’s dragged to Hell, the refrain sings, “Questo è il fin di chi fa mal, e de’ perfidi la morte alla vita è sempre ugual,” (“That is the top of 1 who does evil, and for the depraved, demise is like life”). LUX places Rosalía and her characters in ethical hazard, and her story [spoiler alert for what it means to be human] terminates in demise. The album asks, what’s the finish for one who tries to do good however typically fails? What about a number of temptations not resisted, the occasional enthusiastic sin?
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The stakes are excessive; Rosalía’s God could be a terrifying God, and He doesn’t appear the kind to “Kumbaya.” Initially of Motion II, she feels Him respiratory down her neck in “Berghain.” Motion III opens with “Dios Es un Stalker” (“God Is a Stalker”), with lyrics each humorous and scary. God has seen Rosalía fall, adopted her into darkish corners, and watched her sin. Whereas she will joke about it, she has God say, “No me gusta hacer intervención divina” (“I don’t love to do divine intervention”), and her deity will watch her stumble into Hell with out troubling Himself to cease her.
Like Don Giovanni, Motion I of LUX opens with intercourse, violence, and the prospect for a fast escape — or as she places it, “Sexo, Violencia y Llantas [Tires].” “Quién pudiera/ vivir entre los dos/ Primero amaré el mundo/ y luego amaré a Dios,” she sings: “How good it’d be/ to stay between them each/ First I’ll love the world/ then I’ll love God.” Everlasting paradise or enjoyable proper now? LUX is rarely removed from that pressure.
Motion I additionally introduces one of many central metaphors of LUX: Divine gentle, attempting (and maybe typically failing) to shine by means of her pores and skin. “Via my physique you’ll be able to see the sunshine” she coos in English in “Divinize.” The concept will get twisted within the seductive, irresistible “Porcelana.” Translated from Spanish, she sings, “My pores and skin is skinny/ effective porcelain/ and it emits/ radiant gentle/ or divine smash.”
Smash, as a result of “Porcelana” introduces a darkness that LUX‘s protagonist will wrestle to beat. The London Symphony Orchestra conjures some unbelievable sounds on this one, together with banging percussion and fats triads of brass and strings that can depart each rapper jealous. Neglect small sounds and chamber pop, she’s bought the LSO able to blast the Symphony’s donors proper out of the entrance row.
Motion I ends with “Mio Cristo,” a classical Italian aria a couple of Christ that weeps diamonds, extra Verdi than Usher. However this old style observe provides method to bonkers post-modern pop in “Berghain,” the album’s most daring music, and the place Rosalía’s soul is most at hazard.
“Berghain” is called for a Berlin nightclub with a debauched popularity, and the music has classical references to Vivaldi’s “Winter” and Wagner’s Ring Cycle buying and selling bars with pop melodies and Yoko Ono-style phrase loops. Earlier than Rosalía’s protagonist provides in to temptation, her totally different impulses are expressed throughout totally different performers and languages.
A German choir thunders, (translated),
His worry is my worry
His rage is my rage
His love is my love
His blood is my blood
At first Rosalía joins them in German, expressing correct awe within the native language. However her first phrases in Spanish are a confession: “Yo sé muy bien lo que soy,” she sings (“I do know full effectively what I’m”). Translated to English, she goes on to say what objective she will serve: “Sweetness to your espresso/ I’m only a sugar dice/ I do know warmth melts me/ I understand how to vanish.”
