On the surface, this album could seem more like a difficult university challenge than a new pop project by an artist whose last single featured an international pop star. Divided into four distinct sections and sung in 13 tongues, we have a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work exploring feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and bodily transformation, often via the lens of different female saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—soars heavenward on this record, carried by the lush presence of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a vast list of contributors. The pure ambition by itself makes the efforts of contemporary artists look rather modest.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to escape dry academic posturing feels nearly miraculous, and complete praise belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to alchemize the past and the present, the ambitions feel much higher on Lux, with the balancing act far more pronounced. What truly elevates this fourth album, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of fun. Much like the iconic artist during her peak, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing hearts apart, the listener still want to stay alongside her for the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful spirit comes forth clearly on the stirring Italian song inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four moments. Then, everything drops silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds in with comedic force. The song then segues into the wild single featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise role from the artist Björk.
"The charm of Lux is that the listener rarely exactly know—nor wish to know—where it is going to next."
Nearly every track concludes in a completely distinct place than how it began. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls her earlier rhythmic work starts off dark and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic choir enter to soften its jagged edges.
The Balance Of Experiment & Accessibility
Another crucial achievement on the album involves navigating the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in English swells around a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spirals upward. That trick gets repeated on a different expansive ballad that grows and constricts, weaving layered melodies like a complex weave.
- A waltz-like song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural honesty of other breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing have a painted-on smile, like a fairy-tale character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux represents popular music on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for high artistry in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes time to fully mine but never feels like a chore. While some major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous feast at which the guests around the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common stories about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from pop's truly endlessly creative practitioner.
