Initially, this work might appear closer to a difficult university examination than a new pop project from a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with a global pop star. Split into 4 different sections and sung in 13 languages, we have a head-spinning orchestral-influenced opus investigating female mystery, religious transcendence, and corporal change, often through the lens of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—is launched skyward here, carried by the constant sound of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast list of collaborators. The pure ambition alone makes the efforts of contemporary artists appear quite laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to escape overly academic posturing feels nearly miraculous, with sole credit going to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds with the present, its stakes are far higher on Lux, with the balancing act far more dramatic. The element that truly raises her fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and engrained drama, proves to be a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic Björk at her peak, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. When she's tearing your heart apart, you still want to be right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This exuberant spirit comes forth brightly during the stirring piano-led song about a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated string surge thuds in like cartoonish impact. The song then segues into the wild track featuring racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.
"The magic of this album is that you never quite know—nor wish to know—where you will go to next."
Nearly each track ends in a completely different point than where it started. A track explores the transient nature of fame over a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's previous rhythmic style begins off dark and sinister, with menacing vocals, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to soften the song's rough corners.
The Bridge Of Art and Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album is navigating the gap between bold innovation and broad accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has become her highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy hits. One track performed primarily in English swells around a chorus that seems to gather increasingly infectious melodies while it spins upward. This trick is echoed on a different expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving layered tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for high Art amid of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent excess. It is an abundant well of buried gems that takes time to completely mine but never feels like hard work. While some big pop albums of 2025 seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the guests around it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flit from conversations about ancient figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most endlessly creative practitioner.
