On the surface, Lux may look closer to a difficult university quiz than a new popular music project by a musician whose previous hit featured a global pop star. Broken into 4 different sections and voiced in 13 tongues, it is a dizzying symphonic work exploring female mystique, spiritual transcendence, and bodily transformation, often through the prism of various women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic treated with raw openness elsewhere—is shot heavenward on this record, carried by the lush sound of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast list of contributors. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of contemporary pop stars appear quite laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
The fact that Lux manages to transcend overly academic posturing is nothing short of a miracle, with full credit belonging to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time album to alchemize the past with modern styles, its scale are much greater here, with the balancing act more dramatic. The element that truly raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, is a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener up in its tornado. Even when she's breaking your heart apart, the listener still want to be alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This playful spirit shines clearly on the stunning Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for several minutes. Then, everything drops away, and there's a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo crashes in with cartoonish force. The track immediately segues into the frenetic single driven by galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm of this album is that the listener rarely quite understand—nor want to know—where you will go next."
Almost each track ends at a completely different place than where it began. One moment explores the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate symphony only to disintegrating in electronic chaos. Another, a cut that recalls her earlier rhythmic style begins off dark and brooding, with prowling beats, before sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Balance Of Experiment & Pop
Another crucial achievement on Lux is navigating the line of bold experimentation and broad appeal. It is no surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to break into the Top 5 of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable hits. A song performed primarily in the English language swells on a refrain that seems to gather increasingly nagging melodies while it spins skyward. This feat gets echoed on a different expansive ballad that grows and constricts, weaving layered melodies like an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the cultural impact of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've the podium of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux is pop on a grand scale, a hungry reach for capital-A artistry amid of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in excess. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes time to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. Where some big pop albums of 2025 seemed like feasting on meal, this record offers a sumptuous banquet where the guests at the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flit between discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from music's most endlessly creative visionary.
