On the surface, this album might appear closer to a difficult scholarly quiz rather than a new popular music record from a musician who just had a last single featured an international pop star. Split across 4 distinct sections and sung in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying symphonic opus that delves into feminine mystique, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, often through the perspective of different female saints. The end of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards here, supported by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a long list of collaborators. The pure audacity by itself makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars look quite small.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That this album manages to avoid overly intellectual posturing is almost miraculous, with complete credit belonging to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to alchemize historical sounds with modern styles, its scale are far higher on Lux, with the balancing act more dramatic. The element that really elevates her fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained drama, is a core sense of joy. Similar to the legendary Björk at her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she is breaking hearts apart, you still desire to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful spirit shines brightly during a stunning Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Suddenly, everything falls silent, and there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string surge crashes in with cartoonish force. The track immediately segues into the frenetic track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from the artist Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener never exactly know—nor wish to know—what it will go next."
Nearly every track finishes at a completely different point from how it started. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity with a delicate symphony before collapsing in digital chaos. Another, a song echoing the artist's previous rhythmic style starts off moody and sinister, featuring prowling beats, before sudden traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth its rough edges.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Pop
A key achievement of Lux involves navigating the line of radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is little coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to crack the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. One track sung entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to collect more and more infectious hooks while it spins skyward. That trick gets repeated by another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, weaving layered melodies like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it aligns with cultural impact of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
Lux represents pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for high Art amid of impending artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep source of buried gems that takes patience to fully explore but never feels like hard work. Where some major releases of 2025 seemed like a meager meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters at it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter from conversations about historical figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
