On the surface, this album could seem closer to a challenging university challenge than the latest pop project from a musician who just had a last hit was a collaboration with a global K-pop icon. Divided across 4 distinct sections and voiced in thirteen languages, it is a dizzying symphonic opus exploring feminine mystique, religious ascent, and physical change, frequently by way of the lens of different female saints. The end of a romance—a theme handled with grounded openness on another major 2025 album—soars upwards on this record, carried by the lush sound of a major orchestra and input from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter among a vast roll call of collaborators. The pure audacity alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars appear quite laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
That this album manages to avoid overly intellectual posturing is almost a miracle, with sole credit going to Rosalía. While this is not her first project to fuse the past and modern styles, its stakes are far greater here, with the balancing act far more pronounced. The element that really raises her fourth release, beyond its complex melodies, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be a core sense of fun. Similar to the iconic Björk during her peak, there is a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice which sweeps you up in its whirlwind. Even when she is breaking hearts apart, you still want to be alongside her for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This exuberant energy shines clearly during a stirring piano-led ballad inspired by a saint. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy over more than four moments. Then, everything falls away, to reveal there's a gleeful giggle and a comment before a comically exaggerated string crescendo crashes down with cartoonish force. The track immediately shifts into the frenetic single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The magic with this album is that the listener rarely quite understand—nor wish to predict—where it will go next."
Almost every track concludes at a completely distinct place than how it began. A track explores the fleeting trappings of fame with a delicate orchestration only to disintegrating in digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a song echoing her earlier trap-infused style begins off moody and brooding, with menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional rhythms and a heavenly choir arrive to soften its jagged corners.
The Balance Between Experiment & Pop
A key balancing act of the album involves navigating the gap of radical experimentation and mainstream appeal. This is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to break into the upper reaches of key markets: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable hits. One track performed primarily in English swells on a refrain that seems to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spirals skyward. That trick gets repeated on a different powerful ballad that grows and contracts, weaving multiple tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused number charms with its jaunty, theatrical drama and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture honesty of contemporary heartbreak anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "psychological bully".
- Throughout these tracks, the singing have a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in acting like a motherfucker / You've the podium of disappointment."
An Opulent Feast for the Soul
This album is popular music on a maximalist level, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It rejects solipsism in favor of glorious transcendence, crafting a dramatic drama that skillfully controls its built-in excess. It is a deep source of buried treasure that takes patience to fully mine but never seem like hard work. While some big pop albums of 2025 seemed like feasting on scraps, this record is a sumptuous feast where the guests at it, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flit from discussions about historical figures, the profound feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's truly restlessly creative practitioner.
