At first glance, this album may look closer to a difficult scholarly challenge rather than a new popular music record by an artist whose last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Broken across four distinct sections and voiced in thirteen tongues, we have a dizzying classical-tinged work exploring female mystery, religious transcendence, and bodily change, often through the prism of various saintly figures. The end of a romance—a theme treated with raw openness on another major 2025 album—soars skyward here, supported by the lush sound of a major orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long roll call of contributors. The pure audacity alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars appear quite laughable.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in escape overly academic chin-stroking is nothing short of a miracle, and full credit going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first project to alchemize the past with the present, the stakes feel far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more precarious. What truly raises this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is a core spirit of joy. Similar to the iconic Björk during her height, there is a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps you into its tornado. Even when she is breaking hearts in two, the listener still want to be alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Example of Joy
That exuberant energy comes forth clearly on a stunning Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle and a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo thuds in like cartoonish impact. The song then shifts into the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album lies in you never quite understand—nor wish to know—where it is going next."
Almost every track concludes at a completely distinct point than how it began. A track examines the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a delicate symphony before collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her earlier rhythmic style starts off moody and sinister, featuring prowling vocals, before fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Balance Between Experiment and Pop
A key achievement of the album involves navigating the line of radical experimentation and broad accessibility. It is little coincidence that it has become her highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed entirely in English builds around a refrain that feels to gather increasingly infectious hooks as it spirals upward. That trick is echoed by a different powerful ballad that grows and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms with its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture honesty of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a sharp smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
Lux represents pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry amid of looming artificial sameness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully manages its built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep source of buried gems that requires patience to completely mine but never seem like hard work. While other major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record offers a sumptuous banquet where the guests around it, some tipsy on sacred drink, flit between conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most restlessly creative practitioner.
