On the surface, this work might appear closer to a difficult scholarly examination than a new popular music record by an artist who just had a last single featured an international K-pop icon. Broken across 4 separate movements and performed in 13 tongues, this is a dizzying symphonic work investigating female mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical change, often via the prism of different women saints. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is shot skyward on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the efforts of contemporary artists seem quite modest.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to escape dry intellectual chin-stroking is nearly miraculous, and full credit going to the artist. While this is not her first album to blend the past and the present, the stakes are much higher here, with the balancing act more precarious. What truly raises this fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, dense arrangements, and engrained drama, proves to be an essential spirit of fun. Much like the iconic Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. When she is breaking hearts apart, you nevertheless want to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit comes forth clearly during the stunning piano-led song about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four moments. Then, everything drops away, and we hear a gleeful laugh and a comment prior to a comically over-the-top string crescendo crashes in like cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the wild single featuring racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise role from none other than herself.
"The magic of this album is that the listener rarely exactly know—or even wish to predict—what you is going next."
Nearly each song finishes in a completely distinct point from how it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of celebrity with a delicate symphony before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused work starts off moody and sinister, featuring menacing beats, before sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir enter to soften the song's jagged edges.
The Balance Of Experiment & Pop
A key balancing act on Lux is navigating the gap of radical experimentation and broad appeal. This is little surprise that it has achieved her first work to crack the Top 5 of key markets: at its core a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in the English language builds around a refrain that feels to gather increasingly nagging hooks while it spirals skyward. This trick is echoed on a different powerful ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies as an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused song charms with its jaunty, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating an ex- lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across the album, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for high Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption for sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of buried gems that requires time to fully mine but doesn't feels like hard work. While other major releases of 2025 felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a lavish banquet at which the guests at the table, some intoxicated on holy wine, flit between discussions about historical saints, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about useless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative visionary.
