On the surface, this album may look closer to an arduous university examination rather than the latest pop record by a musician who just had a last hit featured an international K-pop icon. Divided across four distinct parts and performed in 13 languages, we have a dizzying classical-tinged album investigating female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and physical transformation, frequently through the prism of various female saints. The dissolution of a relationship—a theme treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—soars heavenward here, buoyed by the constant sound of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter among a long list of collaborators. Its sheer ambition alone makes the work of other artists look quite laughable.
Transcending Scholarly Exercise
That this album manages to transcend overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly miraculous, and sole praise belonging to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time project to blend historical sounds and the present, the stakes are much greater on Lux, with the balancing act far more dramatic. The element that truly elevates this fourth album, beyond its complex melodies, dense compositions, and inherent theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk during her peak, there is a captivating quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she is breaking your heart in two, you nevertheless want to stay right there for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Exuberance
This exuberant energy shines clearly on the stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It luxuriates in a string-drenched melancholy for several minutes. Then, everything drops away, and we hear a spontaneous giggle and a declaration prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral surge thuds in like comedic impact. The track immediately segues into the frenetic single featuring racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo appearance from none other than Björk.
"The magic with this album is that the listener rarely exactly understand—nor want to predict—where you is going to next."
Nearly every track ends in a completely different place than how it started. One moment explores the fleeting nature of fame over a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous rhythmic work starts off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic choir arrive to soften the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Pop
Another crucial achievement of Lux is straddling the line between radical innovation and mainstream appeal. It is no coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a suite of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English builds on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks as it spins skyward. That trick gets repeated on another expansive track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered melodies like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces via its playful, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it shares with cultural honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner labeled an "psychological bully".
- Across these tracks, the singing have a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale figure concealing a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
An Opulent Banquet for the Soul
Lux is popular music on a maximalist level, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It rejects solipsism for glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully controls its own built-in excess. This is a deep source of buried gems that requires patience to completely mine but doesn't seem like hard work. While some major releases of 2025 seemed like a meager scraps, this record is a sumptuous banquet at which the characters at it, some tipsy on sacred wine, flit between discussions about historical figures, the galvanizing sensation of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about useless men. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
