At first glance, this work may look more like a difficult scholarly examination than a new pop project by an artist who just had a last single featured a global K-pop icon. Broken into 4 separate movements and voiced in 13 tongues, this is a head-spinning classical-tinged work investigating feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal change, often via the prism of various female saints. The end of a relationship—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards here, carried by the lush sound of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer within an extensive list of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of other pop stars look quite laughable.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That Lux 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 fuse historical sounds with the present, its stakes feel far greater on Lux, and the balancing act far more precarious. What really raises her fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense compositions, and engrained drama, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the legendary Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she is tearing your heart in two, the listener still want to stay right there through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant energy shines brightly during a stirring piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four moments. Suddenly, everything falls silent, and we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration before a hilariously over-the-top string crescendo thuds down like cartoonish impact. The track immediately shifts to the wild track driven by racing strings, an imposing choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm of this album lies in the listener rarely exactly understand—nor want to know—what you is going to next."
Nearly every song ends in a completely different point from how it began. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic style begins off moody and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, until sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Art & Pop
Another crucial achievement of the album is straddling the line of bold innovation and broad accessibility. It is little coincidence that the album has become the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of key markets: at its core a suite of utterly catchy hits. A song performed primarily in English builds around a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious hooks as it spirals skyward. This feat is repeated on another expansive track that expands and contracts, weaving layered tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused song charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and a chant-along hook.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting a former partner described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a sharp edge, like a storybook figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
This album is popular music on a grand level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A Art amid of looming artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully manages its built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes patience to completely explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While other big releases of 2025 felt like a meager meal, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the guests around the table, some tipsy on holy drink, flit between discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared stories about hopeless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly creative practitioner.
