At first glance, this album may look closer to an arduous university challenge rather than the latest popular music album from a musician whose last hit featured an international pop icon. Divided into four separate movements and sung in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying symphonic opus that delves into female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, frequently via the lens of different women saints. The end of a relationship—a topic handled with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer among an extensive roll call of contributors. Its sheer audacity by itself makes the work of contemporary artists seem quite small.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
That Lux manages to avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, with sole credit going to Rosalía. While it's not her first album to fuse the past and the present, its ambitions feel much greater here, with the balancing act far more pronounced. The element that truly raises her fourth release, beyond its complex melodies, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential spirit of joy. Much like the iconic Björk during her height, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she's tearing hearts in two, the listener still want to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
That playful energy comes forth clearly during a stunning piano-led song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool over more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated string crescendo crashes in like cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the wild track featuring galloping orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.
"The magic of Lux is that you never exactly understand—nor wish to predict—what it is going next."
Nearly every track concludes in a totally different place from where it began. One moment explores the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before disintegrating in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused work begins off moody and brooding, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Art and Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album is navigating the gap of radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that it has become her highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy hits. A song sung entirely in English builds around a chorus that feels to gather more and more infectious hooks as it spins skyward. This trick gets echoed by another powerful ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes as a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture impact of other heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album is pop on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its own built-in excess. This is a deep source of hidden gems that requires patience to completely mine but never feels like a chore. Where some big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager meal, this record is a lavish feast where the characters at the table, perhaps intoxicated on sacred wine, flit from discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
