In a society that seems to have adopted secularity as a norm, Rosalía’s human and vulnerable exploration of faith in ‘LUX’ offers a fresh perspective on religion and makes it accessible to a generation weary of it.
She paints a picture where religion, God, divinity, and spirituality are inclusive of multitudes and not, as we have come to believe, tools to exclude them. Historically religious institutions such as the Catholic Church have been seen as structures which forced people to conform, containing them and binding them to the heavy weight of rules they ought to follow in the name of God. Rosalía, however, presents a new dimension within which to explore spirituality. One that doesn’t imply a burden of obligation but rather an opportunity for personal and worldly understanding.
She leans into a religion of contradiction where the divine coexists with the mundane, and through their contradiction they expand each other, the self, and the world around them. “At its most compelling, Lux projects its dense religious themes onto a maximalist sonic palette, where the sacred is not opposed to the profane, but crowded with it” (The Guardian – Carlos Delclós). She doesn’t see the complexities of life as something which drives us away from divinity, but rather as something that can bring us closer to it. This is seen in the women who inspire this album, ones mostly with “lives of murder, materialism and rebellion” but which “could light the way to canonisation” (The Guardian – Laura Snapes).
The musician doesn’t shy away from taboo’s, instead she leans into the dichotomies attributed to the image of the female body: simultaneously representative of desire, lust and sexuality, and of divinity and purity. She binds these two concepts, “in ‘Divinize’ she expands on the idea of the body as a religious relic” (Rolling Stone – Elijah Pareño), one which both contains and is devoted to religion, one which the person is willing to break and give out, to share, as a religious act. The connotations of sharing a body, sharing a heart however, are overtly sexual. Nonetheless Rosalía is able to reconcile sexuality with religion in a way that doesn’t seem unnatural. Instead it feels expansive, naturalising a tabood subject within the realm which makes it so. Showing contradiction as something productive rather than incoherent or undesirable.
The figure of Rosalía as the author and creator of this album is also one that seems to convey contradictions. She appears dressed as a nun on the cover of the album. The same artist that has been repeatedly shamed in the past for being overly sexual. In many ways this album promotes a journey of spirituality which focuses on self-realization and understanding, pushing back on the idea that followers of a specific religion have to follow certain rules and behaviours. It opens the doors to a more personal practice of spirituality, one which seeks to uplift people and amplify their talents, relishing in freedom as a means for self-actualization. “In many ways “LUX” resolves into something intimate, revealing the inner workings of divine intervention” (Rolling Stone – Elijah Pareño).
This re-imagination of faith and religion as something inclusive of multitudes is amplified by Rosalía’s intention to make an album grounded in love and curiosity. She mentions in an interview with Rolling Stone that she seeks to make music by learning from others and understanding them (Rolling Stone – Julyssa Lopez). This links with “the idea of, ser un receptáculo – being a vessel” (The New York Times – Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica). She imagines herself and her art as an unlimited container for inspiration, one where all ideas mingle, evolve, and expand on account of their complexities coming to light. She talks about female construction of narrative in these terms: “Feminine writing, it’s more about an ongoing process. It’s not about the climax and then the resolution. It’s about maybe a person with delusions and transformations” (The New York Times – Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica), emphasizing the unlimited possibilities offered by a more inclusive, spacious construction of narrative.
So, through her artistic intention and execution of “LUX”, Rosalía shines light, as suggested by her title, on a faith which includes all, that expands, grows, and transforms, feeding on diversity, and which reconciles aspects of modern life with an updated vision of spirituality, creating a vision of religion that becomes accessible and appealing to the modern audience.
Image credited to UHD Cover (Flickr)