At first glance, this album may look more like a challenging academic quiz rather than a new pop project from an artist whose last single featured a global K-pop star. Divided across 4 separate sections and voiced in thirteen tongues, this is a head-spinning classical-tinged album exploring female mystery, religious transcendence, and bodily transformation, often through the perspective of different saintly figures. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with raw openness elsewhere—soars heavenward on this record, supported by the constant sound of a full orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. The pure daring by itself renders the efforts of other artists appear quite modest.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album manages to transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and full credit going to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time project to alchemize the past and the present, its ambitions feel much greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that truly raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and engrained drama, proves to be an essential sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, you find a captivating sense to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing hearts apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant energy comes forth clearly during a stirring piano-led ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several minutes. Suddenly, everything falls away, and we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top string crescendo crashes in with cartoonish impact. The track immediately segues to the wild track driven by racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than herself.
"The magic of this album is that you rarely quite understand—nor wish to predict—where you will go to next."
Almost each track ends at a completely different place than where it started. One moment explores the transient nature of celebrity with a delicate symphony before collapsing into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls her previous trap-infused work begins off moody and brooding, with prowling beats, before sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to soften the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Accessibility
A key achievement of the album involves navigating the gap between radical innovation and broad appeal. It is no surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to crack the Top 5 of key markets: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in English builds around a refrain that seems to collect increasingly infectious hooks while it spins upward. That trick gets echoed by another powerful ballad that grows and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as a complex weave.
- A waltz-like number charms with its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a sharp smile, like a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for high artistry amid of impending artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its own inherent excess. It is a deep source of buried gems that requires time to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. Where some major releases of 2025 seemed like a meager scraps, Lux offers a lavish feast at which the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy drink, flit between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's most restlessly creative visionary.
