At first glance, this album might appear closer to a challenging university examination than the latest popular music album by an artist whose last hit featured a global pop icon. Broken across four distinct sections and performed in thirteen languages, we have a dizzying classical-tinged opus investigating female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, often via the lens of various women saints. The end of a love affair—a topic handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, supported by the constant sound of a full symphony orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter within a vast list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition alone renders the efforts of other pop stars appear quite laughable.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and full praise going to the artist. While this is not the first time project to alchemize the past with the present, its stakes are much greater here, and the balancing act more dramatic. The element that truly raises her fourth release, beyond its complex melodies, rich compositions, and inherent drama, proves to be a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic artist at her peak, you find a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener up in its tornado. Even when she's breaking hearts in two, the listener nevertheless desire to be alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This playful spirit comes forth clearly on the stunning piano-led song inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Then, everything drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment before a comically exaggerated orchestral surge crashes in like cartoonish impact. The track immediately segues to the frenetic track featuring galloping strings, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm of this album lies in you never quite understand—or even wish to know—where it will go to next."
Almost every track ends in a completely different place from how it began. A track explores the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate symphony before collapsing in electronic cacophony. Another, a cut echoing her previous trap-infused work starts out moody and sinister, with prowling vocals, until fluttering traditional handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Experiment and Pop
A key balancing act of the album involves straddling the line of radical innovation and broad appeal. This is no surprise that it has become the artist's highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy hits. One track performed primarily in the English language builds on a chorus that feels to gather increasingly nagging melodies as it spirals upward. This trick gets repeated on another expansive track that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the cultural honesty of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux represents pop on a maximalist scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that requires patience to completely mine but doesn't seem like hard work. While some big releases of 2025 felt like a meager meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the guests at the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
