Initially, this album might appear closer to a difficult academic challenge rather than a new popular music project by an artist whose last single featured an international K-pop icon. Divided across four different sections and sung in thirteen languages, this is a breathtaking symphonic opus exploring feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily transformation, frequently through the perspective of different saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a theme treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward here, buoyed by the constant presence of a major symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive list of collaborators. Its sheer daring by itself renders the work of other pop stars seem quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend dry academic chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, and sole praise belonging to Rosalía. While this is not the first time project to alchemize the past and modern styles, the ambitions feel much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more dramatic. The element that truly raises this fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of joy. Much like the legendary Björk at her height, you find a captivating quality to the vocalist's singing which sweeps the listener into its tornado. When she is breaking your heart in two, the listener nevertheless want to be alongside her for the ride.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit shines brightly during the stirring Italian song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several moments. Then, all the music drops silent, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top orchestral surge thuds down like cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the wild single featuring galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.
"The charm with this album is that you never quite understand—nor want to know—what you is going to next."
Nearly each song finishes at a completely different place than where it started. One moment explores the fleeting nature of celebrity over a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating in digital chaos. Another, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts out moody and brooding, with prowling beats, before sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to smooth its rough edges.
The Balance Of Experiment & Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act on the album involves navigating the gap between radical innovation and broad appeal. It is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's first release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy hits. A song sung primarily in the English language swells on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spirals upward. That feat gets repeated on a different powerful ballad that expands and contracts, weaving multiple tunes as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like number seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture honesty of other breakup anthems, lambasting a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album is popular music on a grand level, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. It is a deep well of hidden treasure that requires time to fully explore but never feels like a chore. While some major pop albums of 2025 felt like feasting on meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the guests around the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flit from conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
