At first glance, this album might appear more like a challenging university quiz rather than a new popular music record by a musician who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international K-pop star. Broken across 4 separate sections and sung in 13 tongues, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged work investigating female mystique, religious transcendence, and physical change, frequently through the perspective of various female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a topic handled with grounded honesty elsewhere—is launched heavenward here, supported by the lush presence of a full orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive list of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone makes the work of contemporary artists look rather modest.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That Lux succeeds in transcend overly academic posturing is nothing short of a miracle, with full praise going to Rosalía. Although it's not her first project to fuse historical sounds and the present, its scale feel much greater here, with the tightrope walk far more pronounced. The element that really elevates this fourth release, outside of its complex melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is an essential sense of fun. Similar to the iconic artist during her height, you find a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing which sweeps the listener into its whirlwind. When she's breaking hearts apart, the listener nevertheless want to be alongside her for the journey.
A Signature Example of Joy
This playful energy comes forth brightly during a stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music falls silent, and there's a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration before a comically exaggerated orchestral surge crashes down with cartoonish force. The song then segues to the frenetic single driven by racing strings, an imposing choir, and a surprise role from none other than Björk.
"The magic of this album lies in the listener rarely exactly understand—or even want to predict—what it will go to next."
Nearly each song concludes at a completely distinct place from how it began. One moment explores the fleeting nature of fame over a delicate orchestration only to collapsing into electronic chaos. Elsewhere, a cut that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused style starts off dark and sinister, with prowling beats, until fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth its jagged edges.
The Bridge Between Art & Accessibility
A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the line of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. It is little surprise that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to break into the Top 5 of key markets: at its core a collection of truly undeniable pop songs. A song performed primarily in the English language builds on a refrain that seems to collect more and more nagging melodies as it spirals upward. That trick is repeated on another powerful ballad that expands and constricts, weaving multiple melodies as a complex tapestry.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner described as an "psychological terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing have a painted-on smile, like a storybook character concealing a blade: "Top prize in acting like a scoundrel / You have the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
Lux represents popular music on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism for sublime transcendence, crafting an over-the-top spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. This is an abundant well of buried gems that requires patience to fully mine but doesn't seem like a chore. Where other major releases of 2025 seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous feast where the guests at the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flit between conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing sensation of heartbreaking sadness, and shared stories about useless men. It is a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly endlessly inventive visionary.
