On the surface, this work could seem closer to a difficult university challenge rather than the latest pop project by an artist whose previous single was a collaboration with a global pop star. Divided into 4 separate parts and performed in 13 languages, we have a breathtaking symphonic album exploring female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal change, often via the perspective of different women saints. The end of a relationship—a theme treated with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—is launched heavenward here, buoyed by the lush sound of a major symphony orchestra and work from an award-winning composer within a vast list of contributors. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of other pop stars seem rather modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That Lux manages to transcend dry intellectual chin-stroking feels almost miraculous, with full credit belonging to Rosalía. While it's not her first album to alchemize the past and the present, its scale are much greater on Lux, with the tightrope walk more pronounced. The element that truly raises her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of joy. Much like the iconic Björk during her peak, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's voice which sweeps the listener into its tornado. When she's breaking your heart apart, you nevertheless want to be right there through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
That exuberant spirit comes forth brightly during the stunning Italian song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for more than four minutes. Then, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous laugh followed by a comment before a hilariously over-the-top string surge crashes down like comedic force. The track then segues to the frenetic single featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The charm with this album is that the listener never exactly understand—or even want to know—what you is going to next."
Nearly every track concludes at a completely different point than how it started. One moment explores the fleeting trappings of fame over a featherlight symphony before collapsing in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing her previous rhythmic work starts out moody and sinister, featuring prowling beats, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir enter to soften the song's rough edges.
The Bridge Of Art & Accessibility
Another crucial achievement on the album involves navigating the gap of radical experimentation and broad appeal. It is little surprise that it has achieved the artist's first work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song performed entirely in English swells around a chorus that feels to gather increasingly infectious melodies while it spins upward. This feat gets echoed by a different powerful track that grows and contracts, weaving layered melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused number seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns with pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak songs, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals have a painted-on edge, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album is popular music on a maximalist level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry amid of impending artificial sameness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its inherent ridiculousness. This is an abundant source of buried treasure that takes patience to completely mine but doesn't feels like hard work. Where some big pop albums of the year seemed like feasting on scraps, Lux offers a sumptuous banquet at which the guests at the table, some intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter from conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's most endlessly inventive visionary.
