Our Top Album of 2025: The Artist's Masterpiece Takes the Top Place.

Initially, this album may look more like a challenging university quiz rather than the latest pop project by an artist whose last single was a collaboration with an international pop star. Broken across 4 separate movements and performed in 13 languages, it is a head-spinning orchestral-influenced work exploring feminine mystery, spiritual transcendence, and bodily transformation, often by way of the perspective of different saintly figures. The dissolution of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot skyward on this record, buoyed by the constant presence of a full orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a long roll call of contributors. Its sheer daring by itself renders the work of other pop stars appear rather modest.

Transcending Scholarly Pretense

That this album manages to avoid overly intellectual posturing feels nearly miraculous, with full praise going to the artist. Although this is not the first time project to fuse the past with modern styles, its ambitions are far higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk far more precarious. What really elevates this fourth release, beyond its complex tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core spirit of playfulness. Much like the iconic artist during her height, there is a captivating sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. When she is tearing hearts apart, you nevertheless want to be right there through the journey.

A Signature Example of Joy

That exuberant spirit shines brightly during the stunning Italian ballad about Saint Clare. It bathes in a sorrowful whirlpool over several minutes. Then, all the music drops away, and we hear a spontaneous laugh and a declaration prior to a comically over-the-top string crescendo crashes in with cartoonish impact. The song then segues into the wild single driven by galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise role from the artist herself.

"The charm with this album lies in you never quite understand—nor want to predict—where you is going to next."

Nearly each track concludes at a totally distinct point from how it began. One moment explores the transient trappings of fame with a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating into electronic cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her earlier trap-infused style begins out dark and brooding, with prowling vocals, until sudden flamenco handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to soften its jagged corners.

The Balance Between Experiment and Pop

A key balancing act of Lux involves navigating the gap of bold experimentation and broad appeal. This is no surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to break into the upper reaches of major markets: its heart contains a suite of truly catchy pop songs. A song performed primarily in the English language builds on a chorus that feels to gather more and more nagging hooks as it spins skyward. This feat is echoed on a different powerful ballad that grows and constricts, intertwining multiple melodies like a complex tapestry.

• A waltz-like song charms with its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
• Lyrically, it shares with cultural impact of contemporary breakup anthems, lambasting a former lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
• Across the album, the vocals carry a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."

A Maximalist Banquet for the Soul

Lux represents popular music on a grand level, an ambitious reach for high Art in an era of looming artificial blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its built-in ridiculousness. It is an abundant source of buried gems that takes time to fully explore but never feels like hard work. While other big releases of the year seemed like a meager meal, Lux offers a lavish feast where the guests around the table, perhaps intoxicated on holy drink, flutter from conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking sadness, and shared stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from music's most endlessly inventive practitioner.