On the surface, this album could seem more like a challenging university examination rather than a new pop project from an artist whose previous single was a collaboration with a global K-pop star. Split across four separate parts and voiced in thirteen tongues, we have a dizzying orchestral-influenced opus exploring feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, often by way of the lens of various saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a theme handled with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—is shot skyward here, buoyed by the constant presence of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning composer among a long roll call of contributors. The pure audacity alone makes the work of other artists look quite laughable.
Transcending Academic Pretense
That Lux succeeds in avoid dry academic chin-stroking is nothing short of miraculous, with complete praise belonging to the artist. Although it's not her first project to blend historical sounds and modern styles, its ambitions are far higher on Lux, with the tightrope walk more dramatic. What truly elevates this fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the legendary artist during her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing which sweeps you into its tornado. When she's tearing hearts apart, the listener still want to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That playful spirit comes forth clearly on a stirring piano-led song inspired by a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over several moments. Then, all the music drops silent, and we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a comment prior to a comically exaggerated string surge crashes in with cartoonish force. The song then segues into the wild single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.
"The magic with Lux is that the listener rarely quite understand—or even want to know—what you is going next."
Almost every track finishes in a completely different point from where it began. A track explores the transient nature of fame over a featherlight symphony before collapsing in digital chaos. Another, a cut echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused work starts off moody and sinister, featuring prowling vocals, until sudden traditional rhythms and an angelic choir enter to smooth the song's rough corners.
The Balance Between Art & Accessibility
A key achievement of Lux involves straddling the line of bold innovation and mainstream accessibility. It is little coincidence that the album has achieved her first work to crack the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in English swells around a refrain that feels to collect more and more nagging melodies as it spins skyward. This trick is echoed on another expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for high artistry in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its built-in excess. This is an abundant well of buried treasure that requires time to completely explore but never feels like a chore. Where some big releases of the year seemed like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish banquet at which the characters at the table, some tipsy on holy wine, flit from conversations about historical figures, the profound sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from pop's most restlessly creative visionary.
