At first glance, this album might appear closer to an arduous scholarly challenge rather than the latest popular music project from a musician who just had a last single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Broken across 4 different parts and performed in thirteen languages, this is a head-spinning classical-tinged album exploring female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily transformation, frequently via the perspective of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a theme handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, supported by the lush sound of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a vast list of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself makes the efforts of contemporary artists appear rather small.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in escape dry intellectual posturing feels nearly miraculous, with sole praise going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time album to fuse the past and modern styles, its ambitions are much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more pronounced. The element that truly raises this fourth album, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is an essential sense of joy. Similar to the legendary Björk during her height, there is a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. When she is breaking your heart apart, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
This playful energy shines clearly during a stirring Italian song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Then, all the music falls silent, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration before a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds in like comedic impact. The track then segues into the wild single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm of this album is that you never quite know—nor want to know—where you is going to next."
Nearly every track finishes in a completely distinct place from how it started. One moment examines the transient nature of fame with a delicate symphony before disintegrating into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts out moody and brooding, with menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to smooth its jagged corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Pop
Another crucial balancing act on the album involves navigating the line of radical innovation and mainstream accessibility. This is no coincidence that the album has become the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. One track sung entirely in the English language builds on a refrain that seems to gather more and more nagging hooks while it spins upward. That feat is echoed by another powerful track that grows and contracts, intertwining layered tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- Lyrically, it shares with pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art amid of impending AI-generated blankness. It eschews solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried gems that requires patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While other big pop albums of 2025 felt like a meager scraps, this record offers a lavish banquet where the characters at the table, some tipsy on sacred drink, flutter between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from pop's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
