At first glance, Lux might appear more like a difficult scholarly quiz than a new popular music album from a musician who just had a previous single featured a global pop star. Split into 4 different movements and voiced in thirteen tongues, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged album investigating female mystery, religious ascent, and physical transformation, frequently via the prism of various women saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards on this record, carried by the constant presence of a major orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of contributors. Its sheer daring by itself renders the efforts of contemporary pop stars appear quite small.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That this album manages to escape dry academic posturing is nearly miraculous, with complete credit going to the artist. While it's not her first project to blend historical sounds and modern styles, its ambitions feel far greater here, and the tightrope walk more dramatic. What really elevates this fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, dense arrangements, and inherent drama, is an essential sense of fun. Similar to the iconic artist during her peak, there is a captivating sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls you up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing hearts apart, you still desire to be alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
That exuberant energy shines brightly during the stunning Italian ballad 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 and a declaration before a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds down with cartoonish force. The track immediately segues to the frenetic track featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The charm with this album is that the listener never quite understand—nor want to know—where you is going to next."
Nearly each song ends at a totally distinct place from how it started. A track examines the fleeting nature of fame with a delicate symphony only to disintegrating into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's previous trap-infused style begins out dark and sinister, featuring prowling beats, before fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to soften the song's jagged edges.
The Balance Between Art and Pop
Another crucial balancing act on the album involves navigating the line between bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is no coincidence that it has become the artist's highest-charting release to crack the Top 5 of key charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in English builds on a chorus that seems to gather more and more infectious hooks as it spirals upward. This trick gets echoed on another powerful ballad that grows and contracts, weaving layered tunes like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, like a fairy-tale character concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a grand level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its inherent excess. This is an abundant source of buried gems that requires time to completely explore but never seem like hard work. Where other major pop albums of 2025 seemed like a meager scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters around it, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flutter from conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and common stories about useless partners. It is a modern-day musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
