At first glance, this album may look closer to a difficult university quiz than a new popular music album by a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Divided into 4 separate sections and voiced in 13 tongues, we have a breathtaking orchestral-influenced opus investigating feminine mystery, spiritual ascent, and bodily change, often by way of the prism of different women saints. The end of a romance—a theme handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched heavenward on this record, buoyed by the constant sound of a full symphony orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long roll call of collaborators. Its sheer daring alone renders the work of other pop stars look quite modest.
Transcending Academic Pretense
That Lux manages to avoid dry intellectual chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, with full credit going to the artist. While this is not her first album to fuse the past with modern styles, the stakes feel far greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more pronounced. The element that truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of playfulness. Much like the iconic artist at her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she is tearing your heart apart, you still desire to stay right there for the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit shines brightly during the stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a gleeful giggle and a declaration prior to a comically over-the-top orchestral surge crashes down with comedic impact. The track then segues to the wild single driven by galloping strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm with this album is that you never exactly understand—or even want to predict—what it is going next."
Almost every track finishes at a totally distinct place from how it began. One moment examines the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing her earlier rhythmic work begins off dark and sinister, featuring prowling vocals, before fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Art & Accessibility
A key achievement of Lux involves navigating the gap between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is little coincidence that it has become the artist's first release to break into the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly catchy hits. One track sung entirely in the English language builds on a refrain that seems to gather more and more infectious melodies while it spirals skyward. That trick is repeated on a different expansive ballad that grows and constricts, weaving layered tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux represents pop on a maximalist level, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its built-in excess. This is an abundant well of hidden treasure that takes time to fully mine but doesn't feels like a chore. Where some big pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the characters at it, perhaps tipsy on holy drink, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
