🔗 Share this article

On the surface, this album could seem more like an arduous university quiz rather than a new pop project by a musician who just had a last hit featured an international K-pop icon. Divided into four separate movements and sung in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged work that delves into feminine mystique, religious transcendence, and corporal transformation, frequently by way of the prism of different women saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—is shot heavenward here, carried by the lush presence of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity by itself makes the work of contemporary artists look quite small.

Transcending Academic Exercise

The fact that this album succeeds in escape dry intellectual posturing feels almost a miracle, and sole credit belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds with modern styles, the scale feel far greater here, and the balancing act far more pronounced. What truly elevates this fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is an essential spirit of joy. Much like the legendary artist at her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you up in its tornado. Even when she's tearing your heart apart, the listener still desire to be alongside her through the ride.

A Signature Example of Joy

That playful spirit shines clearly during the stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for several moments. Then, all the music falls away, and we hear a gleeful giggle and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top orchestral surge thuds in with cartoonish force. The track then segues to the wild single driven by racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.

"The charm of this album is that the listener never exactly know—or even wish to predict—where you will go next."

Almost every song finishes in a completely different place than where it began. A track examines the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before collapsing into digital cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts out moody and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, until sudden traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to soften its rough edges.

The Balance Of Experiment & Pop

A key achievement on Lux is navigating the line of bold innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to crack the Top 5 of major markets: at its core a suite of truly catchy hits. A song performed entirely in English swells on a refrain that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies as it spirals skyward. That feat is repeated by another expansive ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.

• A waltz-like song seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
• In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional bully".
• Throughout the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have the podium of disappointment."

An Opulent Banquet for the Ears

This album is popular music on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its built-in excess. This is an abundant well of buried treasure that requires time to completely mine but never feels like a chore. While some big pop albums of 2025 seemed like feasting on meal, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the guests at the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter from conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly creative practitioner.