On the surface, Lux may look more like a challenging academic quiz than the latest popular music album from an artist whose last single was a collaboration with a global K-pop icon. Broken into four different sections and sung in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged album investigating feminine mystique, religious ascent, and physical change, frequently by way of the perspective of different female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with raw openness on another major 2025 album—soars upwards on this record, carried by the constant sound of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within a long list of collaborators. The pure ambition alone makes the efforts of other pop stars appear quite laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to escape dry academic posturing feels almost a miracle, with full praise going to Rosalía. While this is not her first project to alchemize the past with modern styles, its ambitions feel far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more pronounced. The element that truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic Björk during her height, you find a wondrous sense to the vocalist's voice that pulls you into its tornado. When she's tearing hearts apart, the listener still desire to be right there for the ride.
A Signature Example of Joy
This playful spirit shines clearly during the stunning piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched whirlpool over more than four minutes. Suddenly, everything falls away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration before a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge thuds down with comedic force. The song then segues into the wild track featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic with this album is that the listener rarely exactly understand—nor wish to predict—what you is going next."
Nearly every song ends at a completely different point from where it began. A track examines the fleeting nature of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration before collapsing in electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused work begins out dark and brooding, with menacing beats, before fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth its jagged corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Pop
A key balancing act of Lux involves navigating the gap between radical experimentation and mainstream accessibility. It is no surprise that the album has become the artist's first work to break into the upper reaches of key markets: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable hits. A song performed primarily in the English language builds around a chorus that seems to gather more and more nagging hooks while it spirals skyward. This trick gets repeated by another powerful ballad that grows and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces with its playful, theatrical flair and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting an ex- partner labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on smile, akin to a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album is pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic drama that masterfully controls its own inherent excess. This is a deep source of buried gems that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like a chore. Where some major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous banquet where the characters at it, some tipsy on holy drink, flutter from conversations about ancient saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
