At first glance, this album may look more like an arduous scholarly challenge than the latest popular music project from an artist who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Divided into 4 separate parts and performed in 13 languages, we have a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work that delves into female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, often by way of the perspective of various women saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched upwards on this record, supported by the lush sound of a full orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the efforts of contemporary pop stars seem quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in transcend overly intellectual posturing feels almost miraculous, with full credit belonging to the artist. While it's not the first time album to alchemize historical sounds with the present, the stakes are far higher here, and the tightrope walk far more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth release, beyond its complex melodies, rich compositions, and inherent drama, is a core sense of fun. Much like the iconic Björk at her height, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener up in its tornado. When she is tearing hearts in two, the listener nevertheless want to be right there through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This exuberant spirit comes forth clearly on the stirring piano-led song about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several moments. Suddenly, everything falls away, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle and a declaration before a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds in with cartoonish impact. The song then shifts to the frenetic track driven by galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist herself.
"The charm of Lux is that the listener never quite understand—or even want to predict—where it will go next."
Almost every song ends in a completely distinct place than where it started. A track examines the transient nature of fame over a featherlight orchestration before collapsing in digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous rhythmic style begins off moody and sinister, featuring prowling beats, before fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic choir enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Pop
A key achievement on Lux involves straddling the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that the album has become the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in the English language builds around a chorus that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks while it spins skyward. That trick is echoed on a different expansive ballad that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused number seduces with its jaunty, theatrical flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing have a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism for sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried treasure that requires patience to completely explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other major releases of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux is a lavish feast where the characters around the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
