On the surface, this album may look closer to a challenging academic challenge rather than a new pop album by an artist who just had a previous single was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split across 4 different parts and sung in 13 languages, it is a breathtaking classical-tinged album that delves into female mystery, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, frequently by way of the lens of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic handled with raw honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards here, buoyed by the lush sound of a full orchestra and contributions from an award-winning composer within a vast list of contributors. The pure audacity by itself renders the work of other pop stars look quite modest.
Transcending Academic Exercise
That this album manages to avoid dry academic posturing feels nothing short of a miracle, with full praise going to Rosalía. Although it's not the first time album to alchemize historical sounds and the present, its ambitions are much greater here, and the balancing act more precarious. What truly raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of joy. Similar to the legendary Björk at her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls the listener into its tornado. When she's tearing your heart in two, you nevertheless want to be alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Example of Joy
This exuberant spirit comes forth clearly on a stirring piano-led ballad about a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for more than four minutes. Suddenly, everything falls away, and there's a gleeful giggle and a declaration before a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo thuds in with comedic force. The track immediately shifts to the wild track featuring galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from the artist Björk.
"The charm of this album lies in the listener rarely exactly know—or even wish to predict—what it is going to next."
Almost each track ends in a completely different place than where it started. One moment examines the transient trappings of fame with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating into digital chaos. Another, a cut that recalls the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts out dark and sinister, featuring menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional handclaps and an angelic choir arrive to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Bridge Of Art and Accessibility
Another crucial balancing act on the album involves navigating the gap of bold experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is little surprise that the album has become her highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly catchy hits. A song performed entirely in the English language swells around a chorus that seems to gather more and more nagging hooks as it spirals skyward. That trick is echoed by a different powerful track that expands and contracts, intertwining layered tunes like an intricate weave.
- A dance-infused number seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner labeled an "psychological terrorist".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a sharp smile, akin to a storybook character concealing a blade: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album represents popular music on a maximalist scale, an ambitious grasp for high artistry in an era of looming artificial sameness. It rejects self-absorption for glorious transcendence, crafting an over-the-top drama that masterfully manages its built-in excess. This is a deep source of hidden gems that requires patience to fully mine but doesn't seem like a chore. Where some major releases of the year felt like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish feast where the guests at the table, some intoxicated on holy wine, flutter between conversations about historical figures, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary theatrical production from pop's truly endlessly creative visionary.
