On the surface, this album might appear more like an arduous scholarly challenge rather than a new popular music record from a musician who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Split into 4 different movements and performed in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced opus investigating feminine mystique, religious transcendence, and physical transformation, frequently via the prism of various saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched heavenward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a long list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition alone renders the work of other pop stars appear rather laughable.
Transcending Academic Pretense
That this album manages to avoid dry intellectual posturing feels nearly miraculous, and complete credit going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to fuse historical sounds with the present, its stakes are far higher on Lux, with the tightrope walk more pronounced. The element that really raises this fourth release, beyond its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and engrained drama, is a core sense of fun. Much like the legendary Björk at her height, there is a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls you up in its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, the listener nevertheless desire to be right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
That exuberant energy shines clearly on a stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a comment before a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds in with comedic impact. The track then segues into the frenetic track featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo role from the artist herself.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener rarely quite know—nor want to predict—what it is going next."
Almost each track ends at a completely different point from where it began. A track explores the transient nature of fame over a featherlight orchestration before disintegrating in digital chaos. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused work begins off moody and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth its jagged edges.
The Balance Of Experiment and Pop
A key achievement of the album involves navigating the gap between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is no surprise that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. One track performed entirely in the English language swells around a chorus that seems to gather increasingly infectious melodies as it spins upward. That feat is repeated on a different powerful track that grows and constricts, weaving layered tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms with its jaunty, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry in an era of looming artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep well of buried gems that takes patience to completely mine but doesn't feels like a chore. While some big releases of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters at the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flutter from conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about useless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from pop's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
