At first glance, this work may look more like a difficult university challenge than the latest pop record by a musician who just had a last hit featured a global K-pop star. Split into 4 different parts and voiced in thirteen languages, this is a head-spinning symphonic work that delves into female mystery, religious ascent, and bodily change, frequently via the perspective of different women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme treated with raw openness elsewhere—soars skyward on this record, buoyed by the lush sound of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a long roll call of contributors. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of other pop stars seem quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album succeeds in escape dry academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and full credit going to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds with modern styles, the stakes feel far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that really elevates this fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, there is a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps you up in its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit comes forth clearly during a stunning Italian song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Then, everything drops away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh followed by a comment before a hilariously over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes down like cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts to the frenetic track featuring racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with Lux lies in the listener never exactly know—or even wish to predict—what you will go next."
Nearly each track ends at a completely distinct place from how it started. A track examines the fleeting nature of fame over a delicate symphony only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused work begins off dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth its rough edges.
The Bridge Of Art & Pop
Another crucial balancing act of the album is straddling the line of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. This is no surprise that it has become her first work to break into the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable hits. One track sung primarily in English swells around a refrain that seems to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spirals upward. This trick gets repeated on another powerful ballad that grows and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like number charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture impact of other heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character concealing a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
Lux is pop on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It rejects solipsism for sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried gems that takes time to fully explore but never feels like hard work. Where some major releases of 2025 felt like feasting on meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet at which the characters at the table, some tipsy on sacred drink, flutter from discussions about ancient figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
