🔗 Share this article Our Top Record of the Year: Rosalía's Lux Claims the Number One Position. On the surface, this work might appear closer to a difficult scholarly challenge rather than a new pop record from a musician whose previous single featured a global K-pop star. Broken across four distinct movements and performed in 13 tongues, we have a breathtaking symphonic album exploring feminine mystique, spiritual ascent, and bodily transformation, often through the prism of various women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars heavenward here, supported by the lush presence of a full symphony orchestra and contributions from an award-winning songwriter within a long roll call of contributors. Its sheer ambition alone makes the efforts of other pop stars seem quite modest. Transcending Academic Exercise The fact that this album succeeds in avoid dry academic chin-stroking feels almost a miracle, with complete credit belonging to Rosalía. Although this is not her first project to blend historical sounds and the present, the stakes feel much greater on Lux, and the tightrope walk more precarious. What really raises this fourth album, beyond its complex tunes, dense compositions, and engrained theatricality, is a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk at her height, there is a captivating quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she's tearing hearts in two, you still want to be right there through the journey. A Signature Moment of Joy This playful spirit shines brightly on a stirring Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several minutes. Suddenly, all the music drops silent, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle and a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds down like comedic force. The track immediately segues to the wild track featuring racing orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from the artist herself. "The magic of this album is that you rarely quite understand—or even want to predict—where it will go to next." Almost each track finishes at a completely distinct place than how it began. One moment explores the fleeting nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts out dark and sinister, with prowling beats, before fluttering flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus arrive to soften the song's rough edges. The Balance Of Experiment and Pop Another crucial achievement of the album is straddling the line of bold innovation and broad accessibility. It is little coincidence that the album has achieved her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of major markets: its heart contains a suite of truly undeniable pop songs. One track performed primarily in English builds on a refrain that seems to collect increasingly nagging hooks while it spins skyward. This feat is repeated on a different expansive ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple melodies as a complex weave. A waltz-like number charms with its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook. Lyrically, it shares with pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional bully". Across the album, the singing carry a sharp smile, like a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have the podium of letdown." A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul Lux is popular music on a maximalist scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A artistry in an era of impending artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime elevation, crafting an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its inherent excess. It is a deep well of hidden gems that takes time to fully explore but doesn't seem like hard work. While other major pop albums of the year felt like feasting on scraps, this record offers a lavish banquet where the characters around the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flutter between conversations about historical saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared stories about useless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from music's truly restlessly inventive visionary.