At first glance, this album might appear more like a challenging scholarly challenge than a new pop record by a musician whose last hit featured an international K-pop icon. Broken into four separate parts and sung in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying symphonic opus investigating feminine mystique, religious transcendence, and physical change, frequently by way of the lens of different female saints. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched skyward here, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within a vast list of contributors. The pure ambition alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars appear quite laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That Lux manages to avoid overly intellectual posturing is nearly miraculous, with sole praise going to the artist. Although this is not her first project to fuse the past and modern styles, the scale feel far higher here, and the balancing act more dramatic. The element that truly elevates her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, is an essential spirit of joy. Much like the iconic Björk at her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is breaking your heart in two, the listener still desire to stay right there for the ride.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful spirit shines clearly during the stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over several moments. Suddenly, all the music falls away, and we hear a gleeful giggle and a comment prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds in with cartoonish impact. The song immediately 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 never exactly know—nor wish to know—what you is going next."
Almost every song ends at a completely distinct point than where it started. A track explores the fleeting trappings of fame over a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic chaos. Another, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth its jagged corners.
The Balance Of Art & Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album involves straddling the line of bold experimentation and broad appeal. It is little surprise that it has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy hits. One track sung primarily in English swells around a refrain that seems to collect more and more nagging melodies as it spirals upward. That feat is echoed on another powerful track that expands and contracts, weaving multiple tunes as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number charms with its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the cultural honesty of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
Lux is pop on a grand level, a hungry reach for capital-A artistry in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in excess. It is a deep well of hidden gems that takes time to fully explore but never seem like hard work. Where other major pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, this record offers a lavish banquet at which the guests at the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
