🔗 Share this article

On the surface, this album might appear more like an arduous academic quiz rather than the latest pop project from a musician whose last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Divided into 4 separate movements and sung in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged work that delves into feminine mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical transformation, often by way of the perspective of various women saints. The end of a relationship—a theme treated with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched upwards on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars look rather small.

Transcending Scholarly Pretense

That Lux manages to avoid dry academic chin-stroking is almost a miracle, and full praise belonging to the artist. Although this is not the first time project to fuse the past and modern styles, the stakes feel much higher on Lux, and the balancing act more pronounced. What truly raises this fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, rich compositions, and engrained drama, is an essential sense of fun. Much like the iconic Björk during her height, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. Even when she's breaking hearts apart, you nevertheless desire to be alongside her through the ride.

A Prime Example of Joy

This exuberant spirit shines clearly on the stunning piano-led song inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over several minutes. Then, everything drops silent, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string surge crashes down with cartoonish force. The song then shifts into the frenetic track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.

"The charm with Lux lies in you never quite understand—nor want to know—what you is going to next."

Almost each track concludes in a totally distinct point from how it started. A track examines the transient nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony before disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused work begins off moody and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, until sudden flamenco handclaps and a heavenly chorus arrive to smooth the song's rough corners.

The Balance Between Art & Accessibility

A key balancing act on Lux involves navigating the line of bold experimentation and broad appeal. It is no surprise that the album has become the artist's highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy hits. A song performed entirely in English builds around a refrain that seems to collect more and more nagging hooks as it spirals upward. This trick gets repeated on a different expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex tapestry.

• A waltz-like number seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
• In its words, it shares the cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
• Across the album, the singing have a sharp smile, like a storybook character concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of disappointment."

An Opulent Banquet for the Ears

This album is popular music on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism for sublime transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant well of buried treasure that requires patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like a chore. Where other big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record is a sumptuous feast at which the guests at it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most endlessly creative practitioner.