On the surface, this album could seem more like an arduous university examination rather than the latest pop record from a musician whose last hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split across four distinct movements and voiced in 13 tongues, it is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced album exploring feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, often by way of the perspective of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—soars skyward here, carried by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within a vast roll call of contributors. The pure daring by itself makes the work of other artists look quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album succeeds in escape overly intellectual posturing is nearly miraculous, with complete credit going to Rosalía. While it's not her first project to fuse the past with modern styles, its scale feel far higher here, with the balancing act more dramatic. The element that really elevates her fourth release, beyond its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be a core sense of joy. Much like the iconic Björk during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she's breaking your heart apart, the listener still desire to be alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant energy shines clearly during the stirring Italian song about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several moments. Suddenly, everything drops away, and we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string surge thuds down like comedic force. The track then segues to the wild single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The charm of Lux is that you rarely quite understand—or even want to know—where it is going to next."
Nearly every track ends at a totally different place than where it started. One moment explores the fleeting nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before collapsing in electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier rhythmic style begins out dark and brooding, with menacing vocals, until sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth the song's jagged edges.
The Balance Between Art & Pop
A key achievement on Lux involves straddling the line of bold innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved her first work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy hits. A song sung entirely in English swells around a chorus that feels to collect more and more nagging hooks while it spins skyward. That trick gets echoed by a different expansive ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it aligns with cultural impact of other heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand level, a hungry reach for capital-A Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of hidden treasure that requires time to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. While some major releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a sumptuous banquet at which the guests around it, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flit from discussions about ancient figures, the profound feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's truly restlessly creative visionary.
