At first glance, this work could seem closer to a challenging academic quiz rather than a new pop record by a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with a global pop star. Broken into four different sections and performed in 13 tongues, we have a breathtaking symphonic work investigating female mystique, religious transcendence, and corporal transformation, often via the prism of different female saints. The end of a love affair—a topic handled with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards here, supported by the constant presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within a vast roll call of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the work of other artists seem rather laughable.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, and complete praise going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time album to fuse historical sounds with the present, its ambitions are far greater here, with the balancing act more pronounced. What truly raises her fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is a core spirit of fun. Similar to the iconic artist during her peak, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing which sweeps the listener into its whirlwind. When she is breaking hearts in two, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Example of Joy
This playful energy shines clearly during a stirring piano-led song about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over several minutes. Then, all the music drops away, and we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top string surge crashes in with cartoonish force. The song then segues into the frenetic single featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The magic of this album lies in you never exactly know—or even want to know—what it will go next."
Almost each track concludes at a completely different point than where it began. A track explores the fleeting nature of celebrity with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her previous rhythmic work begins off dark and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to soften the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the line between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is little surprise that the album has become her highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. One track performed entirely in English builds around a chorus that feels to gather more and more nagging hooks as it spins upward. This feat is repeated on a different expansive track that grows and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Across the album, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its own built-in excess. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes time to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. Where some big releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux offers a lavish banquet at which the guests around it, perhaps intoxicated on holy wine, flutter between conversations about historical figures, the profound feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
