On the surface, this album may look more like an arduous scholarly challenge rather than the latest popular music album by a musician whose previous single featured an international K-pop star. Divided across 4 distinct sections and voiced in 13 tongues, we have a dizzying symphonic opus that delves into feminine mystique, spiritual transcendence, and corporal transformation, often through the lens of different female saints. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with raw honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards here, carried by the lush sound of a full symphony orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within a long list of collaborators. Its sheer audacity alone makes the work of other pop stars seem rather laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid dry intellectual chin-stroking is almost a miracle, and full credit going to Rosalía. While it's not the first time album to blend the past with the present, its stakes are far higher here, and the tightrope walk more precarious. The element that truly elevates her fourth album, outside of its multilayered melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained theatricality, is a core spirit of joy. Much like the iconic Björk at her height, there is a captivating sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she is tearing your heart apart, you nevertheless want to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly on a stunning piano-led song inspired by Saint Clare. It bathes in a string-drenched melancholy for more than four moments. Suddenly, all the music drops silent, and we hear a gleeful giggle and a comment before a comically exaggerated string crescendo thuds in like comedic force. The song immediately segues into the frenetic track driven by galloping strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from none other than herself.
"The magic with this album is that the listener rarely quite know—or even wish to predict—where you will go to next."
Nearly each song ends in a completely distinct place from how it started. A track explores the fleeting nature of fame with a featherlight orchestration before disintegrating into digital cacophony. Another, a cut that recalls her earlier rhythmic style starts out dark and brooding, featuring prowling vocals, until fluttering flamenco rhythms and an angelic chorus arrive to smooth its rough corners.
The Balance Of Experiment and Pop
A key balancing act on the album is navigating the line between radical innovation and broad accessibility. It is little coincidence that the album has become her first work to break into the Top 5 of major charts: at its core a collection of truly catchy pop songs. One track sung primarily in the English language swells around a chorus that seems to gather more and more infectious melodies as it spins skyward. That feat gets echoed on a different expansive ballad that grows and contracts, weaving layered tunes like a complex weave.
- A dance-infused song seduces via its playful, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along chorus.
- In its words, it shares the pop culture honesty of other heartbreak anthems, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the vocals carry a painted-on edge, like a fairy-tale figure hiding a blade: "Top prize in being a motherfucker / You've won the trophy of disappointment."
A Maximalist Feast for the Soul
This album represents pop on a maximalist level, an ambitious grasp for capital-A artistry in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime elevation, creating a dramatic drama that skillfully manages its built-in excess. It is a deep source of hidden treasure that takes patience to completely mine but doesn't feels like a chore. Where some major pop albums of 2025 seemed like a meager meal, this record is a sumptuous banquet at which the characters around it, perhaps tipsy on sacred wine, flit from conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and common gossip about useless partners. It is a modern-day musical from pop's most endlessly inventive practitioner.
