Initially, this album might appear more like an arduous university quiz than the latest popular music album by a musician whose previous hit was a collaboration with a global pop icon. Broken into four distinct movements and performed in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning orchestral-influenced work investigating feminine mystery, religious ascent, and bodily transformation, often through the lens of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a theme handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—is shot skyward here, supported by the lush sound of a full orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a long list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition alone makes the work of other artists seem rather small.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux succeeds in avoid dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and sole credit belonging to the artist. While this is not the first time album to alchemize historical sounds and modern styles, its ambitions are far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more dramatic. The element that truly elevates her fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and engrained drama, proves to be a core spirit of playfulness. Similar to the iconic artist during her height, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. Even when she is tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless desire to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
This playful energy shines brightly on the stirring piano-led song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four moments. Suddenly, everything falls away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge crashes down like comedic force. The song immediately shifts to the frenetic single featuring galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with this album is that the listener rarely quite know—or even want to know—where it will go to next."
Nearly each track finishes at a totally different place than how it began. One moment examines the transient nature of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration only to collapsing in electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work begins off dark and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus arrive to soften its jagged edges.
The Balance Of Experiment & Pop
A key achievement on the album is straddling the gap between bold experimentation and broad accessibility. It is little surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy hits. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a chorus that feels to collect increasingly infectious melodies while it spins upward. This trick gets repeated by a different expansive ballad that expands and constricts, intertwining layered tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number seduces with its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares with pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a knife: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album is popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for high Art in an era of looming artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant well of buried gems that takes patience to fully explore but doesn't seem like a chore. While other big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous banquet at which the characters around it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flit from discussions about historical figures, the profound feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about useless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
