At first glance, this album may look closer to an arduous scholarly examination rather than a new pop project by a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Broken across 4 different sections and voiced in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying symphonic album exploring female mystique, religious ascent, and physical transformation, frequently by way of the prism of various female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched heavenward on this record, supported by the lush sound of a full orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter among a long list of collaborators. Its sheer audacity by itself renders the work of other pop stars look quite small.
Transcending Academic Pretense
The fact that this album manages to escape dry academic posturing is almost a miracle, with full credit belonging to the artist. Although this is not her first album to fuse historical sounds with the present, its ambitions feel much higher here, with the balancing act more precarious. What truly elevates this fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich compositions, and inherent drama, proves to be a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic artist during her peak, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing your heart apart, you nevertheless desire to be alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This exuberant spirit comes forth brightly on the stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, everything falls silent, and there's a gleeful giggle and a comment before a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo crashes in with comedic impact. The song immediately shifts to the frenetic track featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist herself.
"The charm with Lux lies in you never quite know—or even want to know—where you is going next."
Nearly every song ends in a completely distinct point than where it started. One moment explores the fleeting nature of celebrity over a featherlight symphony before disintegrating into digital cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier rhythmic style begins off dark and sinister, with prowling vocals, until sudden flamenco rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Between Art & Accessibility
Another crucial achievement on the album is straddling the gap between radical experimentation and broad appeal. It is little surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first work to crack the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. A song sung primarily in English swells on a chorus that seems to gather increasingly nagging hooks as it spirals upward. That feat is echoed on another expansive ballad that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple melodies as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like number charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover described as an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing have a sharp smile, like a storybook character hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album is popular music on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for high Art in an era of impending artificial sameness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious elevation, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully manages its inherent excess. This is an abundant well of buried treasure that takes patience to fully explore but never feels like a chore. Where some major pop albums of 2025 felt like a meager meal, Lux offers a sumptuous feast at which the characters around the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flutter between discussions about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's truly restlessly creative practitioner.
