On the surface, this work could seem more like a challenging university examination rather than the latest pop album by a musician who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Divided across 4 distinct movements and voiced in 13 languages, this is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced opus exploring female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, often by way of the prism of various women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic treated with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards here, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself makes the efforts of contemporary artists look rather modest.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to avoid dry intellectual chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, with full credit belonging to the artist. While it's not her first project to fuse the past with the present, the ambitions are much greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk more precarious. What truly elevates her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, is an essential sense of playfulness. Much like the legendary artist during her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is breaking your heart in two, you still want to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit comes forth clearly on the stirring Italian song inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy over several minutes. Suddenly, all the music drops away, and there's a gleeful giggle and a declaration prior to a hilariously over-the-top string surge crashes down with comedic impact. The song then shifts into the wild single driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that you rarely quite know—nor want to know—where you will go to next."
Nearly each song finishes in a completely different point than where it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity with a featherlight symphony before collapsing into electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her previous rhythmic style starts off dark and brooding, featuring prowling beats, before sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to soften its rough edges.
The Bridge Between Art and Pop
Another crucial balancing act of the album involves straddling the line of radical experimentation and broad appeal. This is little surprise that it has achieved her first release to crack the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy hits. A song performed primarily in the English language swells on a chorus that feels to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spins upward. This trick gets echoed by a different expansive ballad that grows and constricts, weaving multiple tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused number charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
Lux represents pop on a grand level, a hungry reach for high artistry in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its own inherent excess. It is a deep source of hidden treasure that requires patience to completely mine but doesn't feels like a chore. Where some major pop albums of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a sumptuous banquet at which the characters at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit between discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day musical from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
