On the surface, this album may look more like an arduous university challenge than the latest pop record by an artist whose last hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split into 4 separate parts and voiced in 13 languages, we have a breathtaking classical-tinged album investigating female mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal change, frequently by way of the perspective of different saintly figures. The end of a romance—a topic treated with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—soars upwards on this record, buoyed by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive roll call of collaborators. Its sheer ambition alone makes the work of contemporary pop stars look quite laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
That Lux manages to escape overly academic chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, and complete credit belonging to the artist. Although this is not her first project to fuse the past with the present, its ambitions are far greater on Lux, with the balancing act far more pronounced. The element that really raises this fourth release, outside of its multilayered tunes, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, proves to be an essential spirit of playfulness. Similar to the iconic artist during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its whirlwind. When she's breaking your heart in two, you nevertheless desire to be right there through the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
That playful energy comes forth brightly on the stunning Italian song inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Suddenly, everything drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a declaration prior to a comically exaggerated string crescendo thuds in like comedic impact. The track then shifts to the frenetic track driven by racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise appearance from the artist herself.
"The magic with Lux lies in you rarely quite understand—nor wish to know—where you is going to next."
Almost every song ends in a completely different point than how it began. A track explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight symphony only to collapsing into digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts out dark and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, before fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir enter to smooth its rough corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment & Pop
A key achievement on Lux is straddling the line of radical innovation and broad accessibility. This is no surprise that the album has become her highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key markets: its heart contains a collection of truly undeniable hits. A song sung entirely in the English language swells on a refrain that seems to gather increasingly nagging hooks as it spins upward. That trick gets echoed on another expansive track that expands and constricts, weaving layered melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms via its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture impact of other heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a motherfucker / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album represents popular music on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for capital-A Art in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its inherent excess. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes patience to fully mine but never seem like hard work. Where some big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous banquet where the characters around it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flutter between discussions about ancient saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
