🔗 Share this article

At first glance, this work might appear closer to a difficult scholarly challenge than the latest popular music album from a musician who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with a global pop icon. Divided into 4 separate parts and performed in 13 tongues, we have a breathtaking orchestral-influenced album exploring female mystique, religious transcendence, and bodily change, often via the perspective of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, supported by the lush sound of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning composer within a long list of contributors. Its sheer ambition alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars seem rather modest.

Transcending Scholarly Pretense

That this album succeeds in escape overly academic posturing is almost a miracle, with complete praise going to the artist. While it's not her first project to alchemize the past and modern styles, the scale are much greater on Lux, and the balancing act far more dramatic. What really elevates her fourth album, beyond its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of fun. Much like the iconic artist during her peak, you find a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you into its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless want to be alongside her through the ride.

A Signature Example of Exuberance

This exuberant spirit comes forth clearly during the stirring piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy over more than four moments. Then, all the music falls silent, to reveal there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds down like cartoonish force. The song then shifts to the wild single driven by galloping strings, a powerful choir, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.

"The charm with this album is that the listener never exactly understand—or even wish to predict—where you will go next."

Almost each song concludes in a completely different place from where it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate orchestration only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Another, a song that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work starts out moody and brooding, featuring menacing beats, before sudden flamenco handclaps and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth its rough corners.

The Bridge Of Experiment & Pop

A key balancing act on the album is navigating the gap between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that it has achieved her first work to crack the Top 5 of major markets: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. A song sung entirely in the English language swells around a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This trick gets repeated on another powerful ballad that grows and constricts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex weave.

• A dance-infused song charms with its playful, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
• In its words, it shares the cultural impact of other breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover labeled an "emotional bully".
• Across these tracks, the singing have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."

A Maximalist Feast for the Ears

This album is popular music on a grand scale, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of looming artificial sameness. It eschews solipsism for sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. This is a deep well of buried treasure that requires time to completely mine but never seem like a chore. While other big pop albums of 2025 seemed like feasting on meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters around the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flit from discussions about ancient saints, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.