Initially, this album may look closer to a difficult academic challenge rather than the latest pop album from an artist whose previous hit was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Broken into four separate parts and sung in thirteen languages, this is a breathtaking classical-tinged album exploring female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical change, often via the lens of different saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a theme handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—soars skyward here, buoyed by the lush presence of a full orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure ambition by itself renders the efforts of contemporary artists look rather small.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album manages to escape overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of miraculous, with sole praise going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds and the present, its ambitions are much greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. What truly raises her fourth release, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the legendary Björk during her height, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, the listener still desire to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
This exuberant energy comes forth clearly during the stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool for several minutes. Suddenly, everything drops silent, to reveal we hear a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration prior to a comically over-the-top string surge crashes in like comedic impact. The track immediately shifts into the wild track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm of Lux is that the listener never exactly understand—or even want to know—what it is going to next."
Almost every song ends in a totally different place than how it began. One moment explores the transient nature of celebrity over a delicate orchestration only to collapsing into electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing her previous rhythmic style starts off dark and sinister, with menacing vocals, until sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir enter to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Accessibility
Another crucial achievement of the album is straddling the gap of bold experimentation and broad accessibility. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track performed primarily in English builds on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly infectious melodies as it spins upward. This trick is echoed on another expansive track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple melodies like an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
Lux is pop on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully manages its built-in excess. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes patience to completely explore but never seem like a chore. While other big pop albums of 2025 seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters around it, perhaps intoxicated on holy wine, flit from discussions about ancient saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and common gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
