Lux was described by a press release as exploring lyrical themes of "feminine mystique, transformation, and spirituality", with its songs inspired by the lives of various femalesaints, includingHildegard of Bingen,Rabia Al-Adawiya, andMiriam, alongside Rosalía's relationship with God, her romantic relationships, and the work of writersClarice Lispector andSimone Weil.[1] Its track listing is split across fourmovements, with lyrics in 14 languages, each corresponding to a different femalesaint. A significant portion of the album's creation, which took between two and three years overall, was dedicated to learning how to sing in the various languages. Rosalía often started songs by sketching out rough lyrics withGoogle Translate before taking her drafts to professional translators and phoneticians.
The album was supported by a lead single, "Berghain", which was released on 27 October 2025. Upon release it received unanimous acclaim from music critics, who praised its ambition and orchestral sound. Critics and journalists noted the album's experimental blend of contemporary pop andclassical music elements. It later became the second best-reviewed album of 2025 onMetacritic as well as the site's eighteenth-best album of all time.[2][3] The album broke theSpotify record for moststreams in one day by a female Spanish-language artist, with 42.1 million.[4]
Following the release of her third studio albumMotomami (2022) andits supporting world tour the same year, Rosalía embarked on a twenty-date festival run through the Americas and Europe in 2023. The same year, she released the collaborative extended playRR with her then-fiancéRauw Alejandro. She released multiple collaborations between 2023 and 2024, including withBjörk,Lisa, andRalphie Choo.[5]
Rosalía first indicated she was working on new material during the promotional week forMotomami, claiming she was already "mapping out ideas" for her fourth project.[6] She began hinting more directly at the album throughout 2024. In a September 2024 interview withHighsnobiety, she stated, "It's been a process. I've changed a lot, but at the same time, I'm still wrapping my head around the same things. It's like I still have the same questions and the same desire to answer them."[7] DuringHalloween, she wore a costume inspired by the cover art ofImaginal Disk (2024) byMagdalena Bay, which featured a CD inscribed with "R4" on her forehead.[8] She also included "releasing a new album" on a list ofNew Year's resolutions shared on herInstagram.[9]
In the summer of 2025, Rosalía began teasing her next recording. In June,Hits magazine reported that she had signed with Jonathan Dickins' September Management and that her next album was expected before the end of the year, to be followed by an arena tour in 2026.[10][11] Throughout August, her Instagram posts included visual motifs such aspentagrams,recording studios, andCatholic art. She later confirmed toPaper that these posts were intentional teasers for her new album.[12] That same month, she was featured on the cover of the September issue ofElle USA, where she stated that her fourth album was not yet finished and that it "doesn't sound like [her] latest album at all".[13][14] Following an interview, the Spanish edition ofElle published an article leaking the album's planned November release, which was subsequently removed.[15]
On 13 October, she shared thesheet music for the then-unknown "Berghain" onSubstack, prompting numerous musicians and fans to post their own interpretations online.[16] The following day, cryptic billboards appeared inMadrid andNew York City.[17] On 19 October, she posted a video of herself listening to a live orchestra perform a composition called "Carmesí".[18] The official announcement came the next day, confirming the album's title and release date. The reveal included aTimes Square digital billboard and a live broadcast from Rosalía inCallao Square, where she unveiled the cover art onTikTok and Instagram.[19][20]
"I approached [Rosalía] with 'Memória'. I came to her with a traditionalfado piece, with lyrics I had written myself for my recent album, and I invited her to sing with me on the track. Apparently, she liked the song so much that she asked to include it on her own album. I don't know exactly why she made that decision—she has her own reasons—but I believe there is something in fado, and perhaps the way I work with this tradition, that resonates with her. The lyrics are written as a direct conversation, asking: 'Do you remember me? Do you recognise me? After all these years, am I still the same?' And then, by the end, you realize that the person has been speaking to her own heart—to herself. She is asking, 'Do you remember me? Are you still the same?'"
The New York Times described the album creation process as taking "more than two years",[22] whileBillboard described it as "the better part of three years".[23]
Much of the album's creation was spent researching how to write and sing in other languages, often starting out by experimenting withGoogle Translate before presenting rough drafts to professional translators, phonetics teachers, and music industry peers. Speaking about the process, Rosalía said: "It's a lot of intuition and trying to be like, I'm going to just write and let's see how these will sound in another language." She also emphasised thatno artificial intelligence was used.[22]Charlotte Gainsbourg provided linguistic input for the track "Jeanne", as didJustice for "Sauvignon Blanc". Rosalía said the album was created "97%" by herself.[24] The track "Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti" in particular took a year[25] and was created inMiami andLos Angeles.[23]
The album's recording sessions took place from 2023 to 2025 in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[26]Dazed interviewed some ofLux's collaborators.Carminho brought the song "Memória" to Rosalía; reflecting on the collaboration, she said: "We simply had fun together, and in the end, I feel deeply honored and proud that an artist like Rosalía chose to sing traditionalfado, and to sing it in Portuguese so beautifully." ConductorDaníel Bjarnason revealed that he met Rosalía for the first time when arriving for the album's first recording sessions, stating: "It's different from anything else I’ve ever worked on—I think Rosalía is pushing a lot of boundaries, both internally and externally. She was extremely hands-on and involved in the recording process with the orchestra and she really felt every single note that was being played. She has a strong intuition and sense of what she wants but is at the same time very open to new ideas and experimentation."Yahritza y su Esencia revealed that they first came into contact with Rosalía just a few months before the album was finished when she approached them with "La Perla" and asked them to perform on it.[21]
"There's a whole intentional structure throughout the album. I was clear that I wanted four movements. I wanted one where it would be more a departure from purity. The second movement, I wanted it to feel more like being in gravity, being friends with the world. The third would be more about grace and hopefully being friends with God. And at the end, the farewell, the return. All of that helped me be very strategic and concise and precise about what songs would go where, how I wanted it to start, how I wanted the journey to go, what lyrics would make sense.
Each story, each song is inspired by the story of a saint. I read a lot ofhagiographies—the lives of the saints—and it helped me expand my understanding of sainthood. Because my background isCatholic from my family, so you understand it through this one [lens]. But then you realize that in other cultures and other religious contexts, it's another thing. But what surprised me a lot was that there's a main theme, which is not fearing, which you can find shared across many religions. And I think that's so powerful because probably the fears that I have, somebody on the other side of the world has the same ones. And for me, there's beauty in that, in understanding that we might think that we're different, but we're not."
Lux is Latin forlight.[27] At the album's listening party in New York City, the phrases "When was the last time you were in complete darkness?" and "Sometimes being in complete darkness is the best way to find the light." were projected onto a giant white sheet before the music began.[28] Maria Sherman of theAssociated Press speculated that the title is furthermore an allusion to luxury (Catalan:luxe), representing the grand and orchestral sound of the album.[29] The album cover despicts Rosalía against a blue background in a white outfit resembling anun'sreligious habit and veil. Her eyes are closed, her lips are coloured gold, and she is hugging herself with her arms underneath the outfit's torso. Daniel Neira ofHola! USA and Violaine Schütz ofNuméro both compared the outfit to astraitjacket.[30][31] Speaking toDazed, album cover photographerNoah Dillon said he was approached in late 2024 by Rosalía and her sister Pili, adding: "I think to truly understandLux visually, you need to look at the vinyl foldout as well —there are nearly eighty images that contextualize the record."[21]
Speaking toLe Monde, Rosalía cited historical texts about the lives of femalesaints, as well as the writing of French philosopherSimone Weil and Brazilian authorClarice Lispector, as her biggest lyrical inspirations for the album.[24] She also praised language-learning as a tool: "I wanted to sing in other languages, I wanted to understand other cultures better, study more".[24] Rosalía, whose native languages are Catalan and Spanish,[32] sings in an additional twelve languages onLux: Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Sicilian, and Ukrainian.[33] Daniela Swidrak ofRolling Stone Brasil emphasised in her review that the album's languages aren't used for one-off lines but are given their own fleshed-out moments, with entire songs sung in languages that Rosalía doesn't speak natively.[34] The chosen languages and their placements correspond to the life and stories of particular saints that provided inspiration.[28] Specific inspirations include the Christian saintsHildegard of Bingen andOlga of Kiev, theSufi Muslim mysticRabia Basri, Jewish prophetMiriam, andBuddhist nun Vimala.[1] Rosalía noted that many of these saints came from violent or materialistic circumstances to progress on their path to sainthood.[1]
Apress release described the album as "[tracing] a widescreen emotional arc of feminine mystique, transformation, and spirituality—moving between intimacy and operatic scale to create a radiant world where sound, language, and culture fuse as one."[35][18] In an interview, Rosalía—who comes from aChristian background but has said that she does not adhere to any particular religion[36]—talked about the influence of her belief in God on the album: "I think I've always felt like I have a very personal connection and relationship with spirituality and with God […] I feel like God has given me so much, the least I could do is make an album for him. I'm giving back."[24] When an NPR journalist said that the album's heavyreligious iconography felt "spiritual […] in a different way", Rosalía said she was more interested in mysticism and conveying her personal journey than fitting in with any particularreligious codes. She went on to say that the track "La Yugular" was inspired by studyingIslam.[25] The album is not entirely about religious themes, with multiple songs about the singer's personal growth in life.The New York Times describes the album as "a labor of love exploring the feminine divine and the brutalities of romance."[22]Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian wrote that "you get the sense that somewhere in the mix of stuff about God, Catholicism, beatification, and transcendence lurks the more earthy theme of an ex-boyfriend getting it in the neck".[37] Several journalists drew comparison between the album's songs about heartbreak and failed romances and her real-life, public relationships.[39]
Pitchfork described the album variously as "orchestral pop" and "avant-gardeclassical pop."[40] Some critics and journalists calledLux a classical music album,[42] while others called it apop,art pop, oravant-pop album with classical influences.[43] Movement, the term used for the subdivisions of the album's track listing, is associated with classical music,[44] and Rosalía said that the track "Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti" was an attempt to emulate anaria.[24] Alexis Petridis wrote: "A debate is raging about whether or not the contents ofLux could be described as classical music […] [W]hether you want to label it as such or not,Lux certainlysounds closer to classical music than it does to anything in the charts. There are definitely pop elements to these songs […] but these elements never feel central toLux's sound. Quite the opposite: they seem like oddly spectral presences, drifting through an alien landscape."[37]
Twenty pre-release listening parties were thrown, attended by fans who applied through Rosalía's website; eighteen took place on 5 November.[45] Rosalía attended three of the listening parties:Mexico City, New York City, andBarcelona. Following the Mexico City party on 29 October, Rosalía travelled around the city with musical groupLatin Mafia while uploading clips of the outing to social media.[46]Rolling Stone subsequently published an opinion piece speculating that a collaboration between the artists is on the way.[47] The New York City party on 1 November included several celebrity attendees;Vanity Fair writer Chris Murphy estimated one hundred people were at the event. Fans were givenLux-branded lighters before departing.[28] The Barcelona party on 5 November was held at theMuseu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. As guests entered, Rosalía was lying still in the middle of the room, covered in a large spread of rippled white cloth. It was estimated that there were nine hundred attendees.[48]
The lead single, "Berghain", was released on 27 October 2025, accompanied by a music video directed by Nicolas Méndez.[58] It features lyrics in English, German, and Spanish.[59] "Reliquia" was briefly released to streaming serviceSpotify on 4 November before being deleted the same day; Rosalía's team did not publicly address the upload and if it was an error.[60]
"La Perla" was sent to radio stations in Italy on 5 December 2025, as the album's second single.[61] Its music video, directed by Stillz, was released on 16 December.[62]
"Sauvignon Blanc" was released as a digital single with a cappella and instrumental versions of the song on 11 February 2026.[63] A music video directed by Noah Dillon was released the same day.[63][64]
On 4 December, theLux Tour was officially announced, with concerts in Europe, South and North America between March and September 2026.[65] It marks her first concert tour since the 2022Motomami World Tour.
Lux received "universal acclaim" frommusic critics, according to the review aggregatorMetacritic, based on a weighted average score of 95 out of 100 from 17 critic scores, becoming the site's best-reviewed album of 2025.[67][2][3] The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? assigned the album a weighted average score of 9.2 out of 10 from 19 critic scores.[66]
TheAssociated Press's Maria Sherman gave the album four-stars-and-a-half out of five, praising the album's disconnect from contemporary trends, calling it "far more complex and iconoclastic than obvious", and stating that "there are real pleasures to be unearthed" for attentive listeners.[29] TheBritish Broadcasting Corporation's Mark Savage suggested the album as the best of the year, praising it as "a thoroughly modern album, with cutting edge production and hip-hop phrasing sneaking into Rosalía's stunning, operatic vocals."[75]Clash's Shahzaib Hussain gave the album a score of nine out of ten, calling it "an antidote to viral soundbites and music's instant-grat monomania."[69]Consequence's Wren Graves gave the album a score of A−, writing: "Rosalía leaves us in a place mentioned by no prophets and described by no poets. A place none of us have been before, imagined by no one but herself, and perhaps her God."[70]
Die Zeit's Jens Balzer declared Rosalía to be pop's "new goddess" and praised the emotionality of the album, stating that it's difficult to listen without crying.[76]Dork's Stephen Ackroyd gave the album a score of five out of five, writing: "What lingers isn't the guest list or the language tally. It's authority. A singer at full stretch without strain. A writer and arranger who knows when to hold and when to let go.Lux doesn't shout its ambition; it builds it where the weight can be felt most. It's hard to imagine anyone else making this record, even harder still to imagine they could possibly pull it off. An indefinable talent, Rosalía remains firmly in her own tier."[77]Exclaim!'s Kaelen Bell gave the album a score of eight out of ten, calling it "a genuinely overwhelming experience" and praising its balancing of its grand sound with "small strokes of humanity and humour".[38] TheFinancial Times's Ludovic Hunter-Tilney gave the album four stars out of five, saying it "arrives with the kind of conceptual grandeur that would make aprog rock band jealous", praising Rosalía's vocals as "expressive, swooping up and down the scale", and concluding that "Rosalía has constructed an ambitious and unusual tribute to the European song tradition, from opera house to nightclub."[78]
The Guardian's Alexis Petridis gave the album five stars out of five, calling it a "truly compelling, involving experience" and praising Rosalía's vocals as "spectacular firework displays of talent".[37]British GQ's Josiah Gogarty praised the album's ability to be experimental while retaining accessibility and "moments of straightforward melodic beauty", concluding that it is "relentlessly modern and forward-looking in its cross-genre scope and cultural curiosity."[33]The Independent's Roisin O'Connor gave the album five stars out of five, declaring it amasterpiece and writing: "Each song erupts from the former, constantly shifting and evolving in sound while maintaining a powerful throughline in theme and production."[79]The Irish Times's Ed Power gave the album four stars out of five, calling it "stunningly avant-garde" and "fearless, confrontational, and confidently unconventional" with "extraordinary sounds".[80]Mondo Sonoro's Yeray S. Iborra gave the album a score of eight out of ten, praising the detailed production.[81]NME's Rhian Daly gave the album five stars out of five, calling it a masterpiece and writing that it "continuously stops you dead in your tracks, encourages curiosity, and builds a new world for you to dive into, while connecting to the sounds of all of Rosalía’s previous releases."[72]NRC's Peter van der Ploeg gave the album five marks out of five, praising the album's bombastic energy.[82]The Observer'sKitty Empire wrote that the album is an "unapologetically ambitious, hybrid undertaking" with "megawatts of splendour" that "places [Rosalía] firmly in the conversation surrounding great femaleauteurs such asKate Bush andBjörk".[83]Pitchfork's Gio Santiago called it "a heartfelt offering of avant-garde classical pop that roars through genre, romance, and religion."[40]Riff's Sery Morales gave the album a score of nine out of ten, calling it a "prismatic", "transcendent", "expansive", and "demanding" work.[84]
Rolling Stone's Julyssa Lopez gave the album five stars out of five, calling it "a transcendent album that sounds like nothing else in music right now" and "a gorgeous, gutting package that feels like a truly timeless work of art."[73]Rolling Stone Brasil's Daniela Swidrak gave the album five stars out of five, praising album's ambitious use of language and bold musical direction.[34]Rolling Stone Philippines's Elijah Pareño gave the album four stars out of five, calling it "a record that invites you to listen again, and again, until its light fully reveals itself."[85]Rolling Stone UK's Will Richards gave the album five stars out of five, calling it "a shocking and sublime left turn" that is "both laser-focused and undefinable."[86]Slant Magazine's Steve Erickson gave the album four stars out of five, writing that the album is "ambitious, challenging, and provocative" and "rewards patience".[74]The Times's Will Hodgkinson gave the album five stars out of five, emphasising it as necessarily a full-attention listen and calling it "a grand cathedral of an album in which familiar themes […] are tackled in a way that is deeply traditional and strikingly original."[41]Variety's Thania Garcia referred to the album as a "spiritual odyssey" and wrote that "the instrumentals are as intricate and lush as [Rosalía's] fervent vocal runs".[87]Vogue Singapore's Shyra Jamal called the album "a fully immersive masterpiece" and "a masterclass in artistry", writing that every song contains several memorable moments and praising Rosalía's "striking" vocals.[48]Wonderland's Moira González wrote that the album "turns listening into a sacred experience."[88]
Lux debuted at number 4 on theBillboard 200 with over 46,000album-equivalent units — including 19,000 in pure album sales, making it her first top 10 album on that list.[102] Across Europe,Lux entered the charts strongly: it debuted at number 1 in Spain and received platinum certification simultaneously (becoming her fourth chart-topping project and third chart-topping album in her home country), number 2 in Germany and France, number 4 in Italy and Ireland, and number 7 in Sweden.[103][104][105] In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 4 on theOfficial Charts Company, becoming the highest-charting album ever by a Spanish female artist in that market.[106] In Australia the album debuted at number 15 on theARIA Albums Chart.[107]
The album also earnt 42.1million streams on Spotify in its first full tracking day, breaking the record for most first-day Spotify streams by a female Spanish-language artist,[4][108] and charting twelve of its fifteen available tracks in Spotify's daily list of top fifty most-streamed songs globally. Of those twelve, six appeared in the top twenty.[109]
"Focu 'Ranni", "Jeanne", and "Novia Robot" are exclusive to the physical editions of the album. Additionally, the length of "Dios Es un Stalker" is 2:10 on digital editions of the album, appearing as a different take, in a lower key, and without the second chorus and bridge, bringing the length to 49:27
"Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti" is titled "Mio Cristo" on physical editions of the album
"Mundo Nuevo" has no credited composers, only arrangers; it is listed as a traditional composition
"Berghain" includes the lyrical phrase "I'll fuck you till you love me", originally spoken byMike Tyson[37]
These credits have been adapted from the album's credits page on Rosalía's website.[26] Additional sources indicate that Rosalía is the album's executive producer,[35] that Dougie F contributed to "Porcelana",[112] that Anthro programmed drums on "La Perla",[112] and thatGaspard Augé andXavier de Rosnay assisted with translation on "Sauvignon Blanc".[24]
^"La (no) fe de Rosalía".Vida Nueva – Revista y portal de noticias religiosas y de Iglesia (in Spanish). 9 December 2018.Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved14 February 2021.
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