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On the surface, this album may look closer to a challenging academic examination than the latest pop record by a musician who just had a last hit featured a global pop icon. Split across four distinct sections and voiced in thirteen tongues, we have a breathtaking symphonic album that delves into female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily change, frequently through the perspective of various saintly figures. The dissolution of a romance—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars heavenward on this record, supported by the constant presence of a major orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter among an extensive list of contributors. The pure ambition alone makes the work of contemporary pop stars look quite small.

Rising Above Scholarly Exercise

The fact that Lux manages to escape dry intellectual chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, and complete praise going to the artist. While it's not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds and modern styles, the ambitions are far higher on Lux, with the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that really elevates her fourth album, outside of its complex tunes, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of playfulness. Much like the iconic artist at her height, there is a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, you still want to stay right there for the journey.

A Prime Moment of Joy

That exuberant energy comes forth brightly during a stirring Italian song about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four minutes. Then, everything falls away, and there's a gleeful giggle followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated string surge thuds in like comedic force. The song immediately segues into the wild single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from the artist Björk.

"The magic with Lux lies in the listener never exactly understand—nor wish to know—what you is going next."

Nearly every track ends in a totally different point than where it started. A track examines the fleeting nature of celebrity over a featherlight orchestration before collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts off moody and sinister, with prowling beats, before sudden flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth its jagged corners.

The Bridge Of Art & Accessibility

A key achievement on the album is navigating the line between bold experimentation and mainstream accessibility. This is little coincidence that it has achieved the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song performed entirely in English builds around a refrain that seems to collect more and more infectious hooks while it spins skyward. That feat is echoed on a different powerful ballad that expands and contracts, weaving layered melodies as a complex tapestry.

• A waltz-like song seduces via its jaunty, theatrical drama and a chant-along hook.
• Lyrically, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "emotional bully".
• Across the album, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of disappointment."

A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears

This album is pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption in favor of sublime transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its inherent excess. This is a deep source of buried treasure that takes time to fully mine but never seem like hard work. While some major pop albums of 2025 felt like feasting on meal, this record offers a sumptuous banquet where the characters at the table, some intoxicated on holy wine, flit between discussions about historical figures, the profound feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless men. It is a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly creative visionary.