Rosalía’s ‘Lux’ Is Operatic. But Is It Opera? - The New York Times

This Spanish pop star’s new album is being advertised as symphonic and operatic. Its music borrows from both, without committing to either. By Joshua Barone Sometimes life feels like opera. You experience passion as if you invented it, and loss as if you may not survive it. There’s a thrill in being the main character, a role the Spanish pop star Rosalía takes on with maximalist commitment in her new album, “Lux.” The lead single, “Berghain,” is a declaration of grand scale, with a full orchestra, chorus and coloratura vocals. Adding bona fides to the spectacle, she freely borrows from classical music and opera. Rosalía doesn’t quote directly but evokes a lot within the first 30 seconds, lending the sounds of the past a modern, muscular beat, like the crossover music of Karl Jenkins. A virtuosic violin solo could come straight out of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” And the chorus sounds like a sped-up version of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” This all-out, all-embracing approach to classi

This Spanish pop star’s new album is being advertised as symphonic and operatic. Its music borrows from both, without committing to either. By Joshua Barone Sometimes life feels like opera. You experience passion as if you invented it, and loss as if you may not survive it. There’s a thrill in being the main character, a role the Spanish pop star Rosalía takes on with maximalist commitment in her new album, “Lux.” The lead single, “Berghain,” is a declaration of grand scale, with a full orchestra, chorus and coloratura vocals. Adding bona fides to the spectacle, she freely borrows from classic