At first glance, this album may look closer to an arduous university challenge rather than a new popular music album from a musician who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Divided across four different movements and sung in 13 tongues, we have a dizzying orchestral-influenced album exploring female mystery, spiritual ascent, and corporal transformation, often by way of the lens of various women saints. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded openness elsewhere—is launched heavenward here, carried by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and work from an award-winning composer among an extensive list of contributors. Its sheer ambition alone renders the work of other artists look quite small.
Rising Above Academic Exercise
That this album manages to avoid overly intellectual posturing is almost a miracle, and complete praise going to Rosalía. Although this is not her first album to alchemize the past with modern styles, its ambitions are far higher here, with the tightrope walk far more dramatic. The element that truly elevates her fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense compositions, and inherent drama, is an essential spirit of playfulness. Much like the iconic Björk during her height, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls the listener up in its tornado. When she is tearing your heart apart, you still desire to stay right there through the journey.
A Prime Example of Exuberance
That exuberant energy shines brightly on the stirring piano-led song inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music falls silent, to reveal there's a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment before a comically over-the-top orchestral crescendo crashes down with comedic force. The track then shifts to the wild track featuring galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a surprise appearance from the artist Björk.
"The charm of this album is that you never exactly understand—nor wish to know—what you will go next."
Nearly each song concludes in a completely distinct place from how it began. One moment examines the transient trappings of celebrity with a featherlight symphony only to disintegrating in electronic cacophony. Another, a song echoing her earlier rhythmic work begins out moody and sinister, with menacing vocals, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to smooth the song's jagged corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Pop
Another crucial achievement on the album involves navigating the gap between radical experimentation and broad appeal. It is little surprise that the album has become the artist's first work to break into the upper reaches of major charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. A song sung primarily in English builds on a chorus that feels to gather increasingly nagging hooks while it spins upward. That trick is echoed by another powerful track that expands and contracts, weaving layered melodies as an intricate tapestry.
- A waltz-like number charms via its playful, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- In its words, it aligns the pop culture impact of contemporary heartbreak anthems, lambasting an ex- lover labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across the album, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a storybook figure hiding a blade: "Gold medal in acting like a scoundrel / You have won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album is pop on a maximalist scale, a hungry reach for capital-A artistry in an era of looming artificial blankness. It eschews self-absorption in favor of sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully manages its own inherent ridiculousness. It is an abundant well of hidden gems that requires time to fully mine but doesn't seem like hard work. Where some big pop albums of 2025 seemed like feasting on meal, this record is a lavish banquet at which the guests at the table, perhaps tipsy on sacred drink, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering sadness, and common stories about hopeless partners. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive visionary.
