🔗 Share this article

At first glance, this work might appear closer to a difficult scholarly challenge than a new pop album from an artist who just had a last hit featured an international K-pop star. Broken into four separate sections and sung in 13 languages, we have a dizzying symphonic opus investigating feminine mystery, religious ascent, and corporal change, often through the perspective of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot skyward here, supported by the constant sound of a major symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a vast roll call of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the work of other artists look quite small.

Transcending Academic Pretense

The fact that Lux manages to transcend overly academic chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with full credit going to Rosalía. While it's not her first project to alchemize the past with modern styles, its scale feel far greater on Lux, and the balancing act more precarious. What really raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and engrained drama, is a core spirit of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist at her height, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless want to be right there through the journey.

A Signature Moment of Joy

This exuberant spirit shines clearly on a stirring piano-led ballad about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool over several minutes. Suddenly, everything drops silent, and there's a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top orchestral surge thuds down with comedic force. The song immediately shifts into the wild single driven by racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from none other than herself.

"The magic of this album is that you rarely exactly know—nor wish to predict—where it is going to next."

Almost every song ends at a totally different place from where it began. A track explores the transient trappings of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work begins out moody and sinister, featuring menacing beats, before fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to soften the song's jagged edges.

The Balance Between Experiment and Accessibility

A key balancing act of the album involves straddling the line between bold innovation and mainstream appeal. It is little coincidence that it has become her first release to break into the Top 5 of key markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in English swells around a refrain that feels to collect more and more nagging hooks as it spirals skyward. This feat is repeated by a different expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving layered tunes like a complex weave.

• A dance-infused song seduces via its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
• Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner described as an "emotional bully".
• Across these tracks, the vocals have a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown."

An Opulent Banquet for the Ears

Lux represents popular music on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high artistry in an era of impending artificial sameness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent excess. This is a deep source of hidden treasure that takes time to completely mine but doesn't seem like a chore. While some big releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux offers a lavish feast at which the guests at it, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flit from conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.