On the surface, Lux may look more like an arduous academic challenge than a new popular music album by an artist whose previous single was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Divided across 4 separate parts and voiced in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying classical-tinged work exploring feminine mystery, religious transcendence, and bodily change, often by way of the perspective of different female saints. The end of a romance—a topic handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—soars heavenward here, supported by the lush sound of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a long list of collaborators. Its sheer audacity alone makes the work of other artists appear rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album succeeds in escape dry academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, with complete credit belonging to Rosalía. Although this is not her first project to fuse the past with modern styles, its stakes are much higher here, with the balancing act far more precarious. The element that truly raises her fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, rich compositions, and inherent drama, proves to be a core sense of joy. Much like the legendary Björk during her peak, there is a wondrous sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she is tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless desire to be right there for the journey.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit shines clearly on a stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for several moments. Suddenly, everything falls away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top orchestral surge thuds in with cartoonish impact. The track then shifts into the wild single featuring galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic of this album lies in the listener rarely quite understand—or even want to predict—what it will go next."
Nearly every song finishes in a totally different place than where it started. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating in digital cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused style begins off dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Accessibility
Another crucial achievement of Lux involves straddling the gap between bold experimentation and broad accessibility. It is little surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to crack the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy hits. A song performed primarily in the English language builds on a refrain that feels to gather increasingly nagging hooks while it spirals upward. This feat gets repeated on another powerful track that expands and constricts, weaving multiple melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns with cultural honesty of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting a former partner described as an "emotional bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, like a storybook character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
Lux is pop on a grand level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption for sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its own inherent excess. It is an abundant source of buried treasure that requires time to fully mine but doesn't seem like a chore. While some major releases of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record is a lavish banquet at which the guests at the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day theatrical production from pop's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
