On the surface, this work may look closer to an arduous scholarly quiz rather than a new popular music album from a musician who just had a last hit was a collaboration with an international K-pop icon. Divided into 4 different parts and sung in 13 languages, we have a dizzying classical-tinged opus investigating feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and bodily change, often through the prism of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—soars upwards on this record, carried by the lush sound of a full orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer within a long roll call of collaborators. The pure daring by itself renders the efforts of contemporary artists seem rather laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to transcend dry academic chin-stroking feels nearly miraculous, and complete credit belonging to the artist. Although it's not the first time project to alchemize the past with the present, the ambitions are much greater here, with the tightrope walk more dramatic. The element that truly elevates this fourth release, beyond its multilayered tunes, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, proves to be a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk during her height, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she is breaking hearts apart, the listener still desire to stay alongside her through the ride.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
That playful spirit shines clearly during a stunning piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four moments. Suddenly, everything drops away, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment before a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds in like comedic impact. The song then shifts into the frenetic single featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo role from none other than herself.
"The magic with this album lies in you rarely exactly understand—or even wish to predict—what you is going next."
Almost every track ends at a totally different place from how it started. A track examines the fleeting nature of fame with a featherlight orchestration before collapsing in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused style begins off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, before sudden traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir enter to soften the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Of Art and Pop
A key achievement on the album involves navigating the gap between bold innovation and broad appeal. It is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in English swells around a refrain that feels to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spirals skyward. This trick gets repeated by a different powerful track that expands and constricts, intertwining multiple tunes as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song charms via its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a sharp edge, like a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Ears
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious grasp for high artistry in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of buried treasure that takes time to completely mine but doesn't feels like a chore. Where some major pop albums of the year felt like a meager scraps, this record offers a sumptuous feast where the guests at it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flit between conversations about historical saints, the profound sensation of soul-shattering sadness, and shared gossip about hopeless partners. It is a modern-day musical from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.
