album rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Art pop / orchestral pop / classical crossover / flamenco pop / experimental pop. Lux is the fourth studio album by Rosalía (born Rosalía Vila Tobella, Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Barcelona, 1992), the Catalan singer who trained in flamenco at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and has, with each successive album, extended the range and ambition of what Spanish-language pop music can do and be. Lux followed the experimental Motomami (2022) and took between two and three years to create, with recording sessions in France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States from 2023 to 2025. The album was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the Icelandic composer and conductor Daníel Bjarnason, and is structured in four movements (MOV I–IV), with lyrics written in fourteen languages, each track corresponding to a different female saint. Rosalía stated she created the album '97 per cent' by herself, and emphasised that no artificial intelligence was used. The track listing (physical editions, 18 tracks) includes 'Sexo, Violencia y Llantas', 'Reliquia', 'Divinize', 'Porcelana', 'Mio Cristo', 'Berghain' (the lead single), 'La Perla', 'Mundo Nuevo', 'De Madrugá', 'Dios Es Un Stalker', 'La Yugular', 'Focu 'Ranni' (physical exclusive), 'Sauvignon Blanc', 'Jeanne' (physical exclusive), 'Novia Robot' (physical exclusive), 'La Rumba del Perdón', 'Memória' and 'Magnolias'. Vocal guests include Björk, Portuguese fado singer Carminho, Spanish flamenco star Estrella Morente, Silvia Pérez Cruz, Yahritza y su Esencia, and Yves Tumor. The boys' choirs Escolania de Montserrat and Cor Cambra Palau de la Música Catalana also participate. Orchestral arrangements were realised by Caroline Shaw and Angélica Negrón. Charlotte Gainsbourg provided linguistic input for 'Jeanne'.
Label: Columbia Records (Sony Music Entertainment), released 7 November 2025.
Producers: Rosalía (executive producer and principal creative force); additional production by Noah Goldstein, Dylan Wiggins, Pharrell Williams, Caroline Shaw, El Guincho, Elliott Kozel, Jake Miller and others. Mixed by: Manny Marroquin, Tom Elmhirst, Nigel Godrich and Jake Miller. Mastered by: Brian Lee and Bob Jackson.
Recording studios: Multiple studios in France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, recorded 2023–2025.
Critical reception: Lux received universal acclaim on release. Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 95 out of 100 based on 17 critic reviews, making it the site's best-reviewed album of 2025 and eventually the eighteenth-best album of all time on the platform. AnyDecentMusic? gave it 9.2 out of 10. musicOMH gave it a perfect score, calling it 'a dizzying, unmatchable experience which cements Rosalía as one of the most visionary artists working today.' The BBC's Mark Savage named it the best album of the year, calling it 'thoroughly modern... with cutting-edge production and hip-hop phrasing sneaking into Rosalía's stunning, operatic vocals.' Clash called it 'an antidote to viral soundbites and music's instant-grat monomania.' Tracking Angle noted: 'Eighteen tracks in four movements. Six choirs. Fourteen different languages. Eight studios. The orchestral elements here are pivotal to the compositional and emotional power.'
Commercial success: Lux broke the Spotify record for most streams in one day by a female Spanish-language artist, with 42.1 million streams. The album reached the top ten of the Billboard 200.
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