At first glance, this work might appear closer to an arduous academic examination than the latest popular music record by an artist who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Divided across four different sections and sung in 13 languages, it is a dizzying classical-tinged work exploring female mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal change, frequently by way of the lens of different women saints. The end of a romance—a theme handled with raw openness elsewhere—is shot upwards on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure ambition alone makes the work of contemporary pop stars seem rather small.
Rising Above Academic Pretense
The fact that Lux succeeds in escape overly academic chin-stroking is nothing short of miraculous, with full praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time project to alchemize the past and modern styles, the ambitions feel much higher here, and the tightrope walk more precarious. What really raises her fourth album, outside of its multilayered tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of fun. Similar to the iconic artist at her height, you find a captivating sense to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener up in its whirlwind. When she is tearing hearts in two, you nevertheless desire to be right there for the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
This playful energy shines brightly on a stunning piano-led song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a gleeful laugh and a declaration before a comically over-the-top orchestral surge thuds down with cartoonish force. The track then segues into the frenetic single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a surprise role from the artist Björk.
"The charm with Lux lies in you never quite know—nor want to know—where you will go next."
Almost each track concludes in a totally distinct place from how it started. One moment examines the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a delicate orchestration before collapsing in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, before sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to soften its jagged edges.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Pop
A key balancing act on Lux involves straddling the gap between radical innovation and broad accessibility. It is little coincidence that it has achieved the artist's first release to break into the upper reaches of key charts: its heart contains a suite of utterly catchy hits. One track sung primarily in the English language builds around a refrain that seems to gather increasingly infectious hooks while it spins skyward. That feat gets echoed by another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused song seduces with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns with cultural honesty of other breakup anthems, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout the album, the singing have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook character concealing a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
Lux represents pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for high Art amid of impending artificial blankness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent excess. It is an abundant well of hidden treasure that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. Where some big releases of 2025 felt like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish banquet where the guests around it, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter between discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.
