🔗 Share this article

On the surface, this work might appear more like an arduous scholarly examination rather than the latest pop project by an artist whose last single featured a global pop icon. Divided into 4 separate movements and sung in 13 tongues, it is a head-spinning symphonic opus exploring feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal change, often via the prism of various saintly figures. The end of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot heavenward on this record, supported by the constant presence of a full symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive roll call of contributors. The pure daring alone makes the efforts of other artists seem quite laughable.

Rising Above Scholarly Exercise

That this album succeeds in escape overly academic posturing is nearly miraculous, and sole credit going to the artist. Although it's not the first time project to fuse historical sounds with the present, the ambitions feel far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more precarious. The element that really raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she is tearing hearts apart, the listener still desire to stay alongside her through the ride.

A Signature Example of Exuberance

This exuberant spirit comes forth clearly during the stirring piano-led song about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Then, everything drops away, and there's a gleeful giggle and a comment before a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down with cartoonish force. The song immediately shifts into the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist herself.

"The magic with Lux is that the listener never exactly understand—nor want to know—what you will go next."

Almost each song finishes at a completely distinct point than where it began. A track explores the transient nature of fame with a delicate symphony before disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts off dark and brooding, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir enter to smooth the song's jagged edges.

The Balance Between Art & Accessibility

Another crucial achievement of Lux involves navigating the gap of radical experimentation and broad accessibility. It is no surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to break into the Top 5 of major markets: at its core a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English swells on a refrain that feels to collect increasingly infectious hooks while it spirals skyward. That trick is echoed by another expansive track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes as an intricate weave.

• A waltz-like song seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
• Lyrically, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
• Across these tracks, the singing have a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."

An Opulent Banquet for the Ears

Lux represents pop on a grand scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its built-in excess. This is an abundant well of hidden gems that requires time to completely explore but doesn't feels like a chore. While other major releases of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, this record is a sumptuous banquet where the guests around the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flit between discussions about ancient figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about hopeless partners. It is a contemporary musical from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.