🔗 Share this article

Initially, this work may look closer to a difficult university challenge than a new pop project by a musician who just had a last hit was a collaboration with a global pop star. Broken across 4 separate movements and voiced in 13 languages, we have a dizzying symphonic album exploring feminine mystery, religious ascent, and bodily change, often by way of the lens of various women saints. The end of a love affair—a topic handled with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—soars skyward on this record, carried by the constant presence of a full orchestra and work from an award-winning composer among a vast list of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of other artists look quite small.

Rising Above Academic Pretense

The fact that this album succeeds in escape dry intellectual chin-stroking is almost a miracle, with sole credit going to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to fuse the past with the present, the scale feel far greater here, with the balancing act far more pronounced. What truly raises her fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential spirit of joy. Much like the legendary Björk at her height, there is a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she is tearing hearts in two, the listener nevertheless want to be alongside her for the journey.

A Signature Moment of Joy

That playful spirit comes forth clearly on the stirring piano-led song inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for several minutes. Suddenly, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh and a comment before a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge crashes in with comedic force. The song then segues into the frenetic single featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.

"The charm with this album lies in the listener rarely quite understand—nor want to predict—where you will go next."

Almost each track ends at a totally distinct point from how it began. A track examines the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic work begins off dark and brooding, with menacing beats, before sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to soften its jagged edges.

The Bridge Between Art & Pop

A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the gap of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to crack the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. One track performed entirely in the English language swells around a refrain that seems to collect more and more infectious hooks as it spins upward. That trick is repeated by another powerful ballad that expands and constricts, intertwining layered tunes like an intricate tapestry.

• A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic hook.
• Lyrically, it shares with pop culture impact of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating an ex- partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
• Throughout these tracks, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a storybook character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have the podium of disappointment."

An Opulent Banquet for the Soul

Lux represents pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high artistry amid of impending artificial blankness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully manages its inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant well of hidden treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. Where other major pop albums of 2025 felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a lavish banquet where the guests at it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flutter from discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and common stories about useless men. It is a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly creative practitioner.