🔗 Share this article

At first glance, this album may look more like an arduous scholarly quiz rather than the latest popular music album from a musician who just had a last single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Divided into 4 different movements and voiced in thirteen languages, it is a head-spinning classical-tinged work that delves into female mystery, spiritual ascent, and bodily transformation, often through the lens of various female saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among an extensive roll call of contributors. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of other pop stars seem quite laughable.

Transcending Academic Pretense

That this album manages to transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, with complete praise belonging to the artist. Although it's not the first time project to alchemize the past and the present, the ambitions are much higher here, with the balancing act more pronounced. What really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is an essential spirit of joy. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice which sweeps the listener up in its whirlwind. Even when she is tearing your heart apart, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her for the journey.

A Signature Example of Joy

This exuberant spirit comes forth clearly on the stirring piano-led song about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several moments. Then, everything drops away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration prior to a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo crashes in like comedic force. The track immediately shifts into the frenetic single driven by galloping strings, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.

"The magic of Lux lies in you rarely quite know—or even wish to know—what it is going next."

Almost each song ends in a completely different point from how it started. One moment examines the transient trappings of fame with a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work begins off moody and brooding, with menacing beats, until sudden traditional handclaps and an angelic choir enter to soften the song's jagged edges.

The Balance Between Art and Accessibility

Another crucial achievement on Lux is navigating the gap between bold experimentation and broad appeal. It is no surprise that it has achieved her highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of major charts: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable hits. One track sung primarily in the English language swells around a chorus that seems to gather increasingly infectious melodies while it spins skyward. This feat gets repeated by a different expansive track that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.

• A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
• Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of other breakup songs, lambasting a former lover labeled an "emotional bully".
• Throughout the album, the singing carry a painted-on edge, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."

A Maximalist Feast for the Soul

Lux is pop on a grand level, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its own built-in excess. This is an abundant source of buried gems that requires patience to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. While other major releases of the year felt like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish feast at which the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flit from discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.