At first glance, this album may look closer to a difficult university challenge than the latest pop album from a musician who just had a last single featured an international pop star. Divided across four different sections and voiced in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced album exploring feminine mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently through the perspective of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic treated with raw openness on another major 2025 album—is shot heavenward here, supported by the lush sound of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning composer within a long roll call of contributors. Its sheer ambition by itself renders the efforts of other pop stars seem quite modest.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
That this album manages to transcend dry academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and complete praise belonging to Rosalía. While it's not her first album to blend historical sounds with modern styles, the stakes feel far higher here, with the balancing act more precarious. What really elevates this fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and inherent theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic artist at her peak, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she's tearing your heart apart, the listener still want to stay right there through the ride.
A Signature Moment of Joy
That exuberant energy comes forth clearly during a stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four moments. Suddenly, everything falls away, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down like comedic impact. The track immediately segues into the wild track featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm with Lux is that you never quite know—nor wish to predict—where it will go to next."
Almost each track ends in a totally different point from how it started. A track explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate symphony only to disintegrating into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused style starts off moody and brooding, with prowling vocals, until sudden traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir enter to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Art and Pop
Another crucial balancing act on Lux involves straddling the gap between radical innovation and broad accessibility. This is no surprise that the album has achieved her first work to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable hits. One track performed primarily in the English language swells on a chorus that feels to collect increasingly infectious melodies while it spins upward. This feat gets echoed on another powerful track that expands and contracts, weaving multiple tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting a former lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, like a storybook character concealing a knife: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul
This album represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high artistry in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of hidden gems that takes time to completely mine but doesn't feels like a chore. While other big releases of the year felt like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the guests around it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit from conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
