Our Leading Record of 2025: The Artist's Lux Takes the Premier Place.

At first glance, this work could seem closer to a difficult academic challenge rather than the latest pop record from an artist who just had a last single featured an international K-pop icon. Split across 4 distinct sections and performed in thirteen languages, this is a dizzying classical-tinged work investigating female mystery, religious ascent, and corporal transformation, often via the lens of different saintly figures. The end of a romance—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched skyward on this record, supported by the constant sound of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a long list of contributors. The pure ambition alone makes the work of contemporary pop stars seem quite modest.

Transcending Academic Exercise

That Lux manages to escape dry academic chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, with sole credit going to Rosalía. Although this is not the first time album to alchemize historical sounds and the present, its ambitions are much greater on Lux, and the balancing act far more dramatic. What really raises her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of playfulness. Much like the legendary Björk during her height, there is a wondrous quality to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its whirlwind. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, the listener still want to stay right there for the journey.

A Signature Example of Joy

That exuberant energy comes forth clearly on the stirring piano-led ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over several minutes. Then, everything drops away, and there's a gleeful laugh followed by a comment before a hilariously exaggerated string surge crashes down like comedic impact. The track immediately shifts to the wild track driven by racing orchestration, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist herself.

"The magic of Lux is that the listener never quite understand—nor want to know—where you is going to next."

Nearly every song ends at a completely distinct place from where it started. One moment explores the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate symphony only to collapsing in digital chaos. Elsewhere, a song that recalls the artist's previous rhythmic style begins out moody and brooding, featuring prowling beats, until fluttering traditional handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to smooth the song's rough edges.

The Bridge Between Art and Accessibility

A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the line of bold innovation and mainstream appeal. This is little surprise that the album has achieved her highest-charting work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a suite of truly catchy hits. A song performed entirely in the English language builds on a refrain that seems to gather more and more nagging melodies as it spirals skyward. That feat gets repeated by another powerful track that grows and contracts, intertwining layered melodies like an intricate tapestry.

• A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
• In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other breakup songs, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional bully".
• Across the album, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of disappointment."

An Opulent Feast for the Ears

This album represents pop on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of impending AI-generated sameness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of glorious transcendence, creating an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its own built-in ridiculousness. This is a deep well of hidden gems that takes patience to fully explore but doesn't seem like a chore. While some major pop albums of 2025 felt like a meager meal, Lux is a lavish feast where the guests around it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit from conversations about historical saints, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly inventive visionary.