At first glance, Lux may look more like a difficult university examination rather than the latest pop album by a musician who just had a last hit was a collaboration with a global K-pop icon. Divided across four distinct parts and voiced in thirteen tongues, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged work investigating feminine mystery, spiritual ascent, and physical transformation, often via the prism of different female saints. The end of a romance—a topic treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot heavenward here, buoyed by the lush presence of a full orchestra and work from an award-winning songwriter among a long roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity by itself renders the efforts of contemporary pop stars appear rather small.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
The fact that Lux manages to escape dry intellectual chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, and full credit going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time project to alchemize historical sounds with the present, the stakes feel far higher on Lux, and the balancing act far more precarious. What truly raises this fourth release, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Similar to the legendary artist at her peak, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls you into its whirlwind. When she is tearing your heart apart, you still desire to be right there for the ride.
A Signature Example of Exuberance
This playful energy comes forth clearly on a stirring Italian song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for several moments. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal there's a gleeful laugh and a declaration before a hilariously exaggerated string crescendo crashes in like comedic force. The song then shifts to the frenetic track driven by racing strings, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.
"The charm with Lux lies in you rarely quite know—or even want to know—where it will go to next."
Nearly every song concludes in a completely different point than how it began. A track explores the fleeting nature of fame with a featherlight symphony before disintegrating into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic work starts out dark and brooding, featuring menacing beats, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to soften its rough corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Accessibility
Another crucial achievement on the album involves straddling the gap of radical experimentation and broad accessibility. It is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's first release to crack the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy pop songs. A song performed entirely in English builds on a chorus that feels to gather more and more infectious hooks as it spins skyward. That trick gets repeated by a different expansive track that grows and contracts, intertwining multiple melodies like a complex tapestry.
- A dance-infused song charms via its playful, theatrical drama and a chant-along chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture honesty of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating an ex- lover labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character concealing a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a maximalist level, a hungry reach for capital-A artistry in an era of impending AI-generated blankness. It rejects self-absorption for sublime transcendence, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of buried gems that requires time to fully explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where other big releases of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests around it, perhaps tipsy on holy wine, flit between conversations about historical figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
