Initially, Lux may look more like a difficult academic challenge rather than the latest popular music project by a musician who just had a last single was a collaboration with a global pop star. Split across 4 separate parts and performed in thirteen tongues, this is a head-spinning symphonic opus investigating female mystery, religious transcendence, and corporal change, often by way of the perspective of various female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—is shot skyward here, buoyed by the lush presence of a full orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive list of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone renders the efforts of other artists look rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album succeeds in escape overly academic chin-stroking is almost miraculous, and complete praise going to Rosalía. While it's not her first album to fuse the past and the present, its scale are much greater here, with the tightrope walk far more precarious. What really elevates this fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary artist during her peak, there is a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This playful energy shines clearly on the stunning Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool over several moments. Then, all the music falls away, and we hear a gleeful laugh and a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string surge thuds down like comedic impact. The track immediately shifts to the frenetic track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album lies in the listener rarely exactly understand—or even want to know—where it will go next."
Almost each song ends at a totally different point from where it began. A track explores the fleeting nature of fame with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Another, a song that recalls the artist's previous rhythmic work starts out moody and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, before fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to smooth its jagged edges.
The Balance Between Experiment and Pop
A key balancing act on Lux involves navigating the gap between bold experimentation and broad accessibility. It is no coincidence that it has become the artist's highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song sung primarily in English builds around a chorus that feels to collect more and more infectious melodies as it spirals upward. This trick is repeated by another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining layered melodies as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it aligns with cultural honesty of other breakup songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have the podium of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album is popular music on a maximalist scale, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried treasure that takes patience to fully explore but never feels like a chore. While some big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous banquet where the characters around it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit from discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and common gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.
