Initially, this album may look more like an arduous academic quiz than the latest popular music record from a musician whose previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Broken across 4 separate parts and voiced in 13 languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged album investigating feminine mystery, religious transcendence, and physical change, often by way of the perspective of various saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—is launched upwards on this record, carried by the lush presence of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within a vast roll call of collaborators. Its sheer audacity alone makes the efforts of contemporary pop stars look rather modest.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
That this album succeeds in avoid overly academic posturing feels nearly miraculous, and sole praise going to the artist. Although it's not the first time project to fuse the past with modern styles, the ambitions feel much greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Much like the legendary artist at her height, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she's breaking hearts in two, you still want to stay right there for the ride.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit shines clearly during the stunning Italian ballad inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Suddenly, everything falls away, to reveal there's a gleeful giggle followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo thuds in like comedic force. The track immediately shifts into the wild track featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm with Lux is that the listener rarely quite know—or even wish to predict—where it will go to next."
Nearly each song finishes at a completely distinct place from where it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate orchestration before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous trap-infused work starts out dark and sinister, with prowling beats, before sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to soften its jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Art and Accessibility
A key balancing act of Lux is navigating the line of bold experimentation and broad appeal. This is no surprise that the album has become her highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in the English language builds on a chorus that feels to collect more and more infectious hooks while it spins upward. This feat is repeated on another expansive ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it aligns with cultural honesty of other breakup songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across the album, the singing have a sharp edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for high artistry in an era of looming artificial sameness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of hidden gems that takes patience to fully mine but never feels like hard work. While some big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters around it, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter between discussions about ancient figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about hopeless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
