Initially, this work may look closer to a difficult scholarly examination than the latest pop album from an artist whose last single was a collaboration with a global pop star. Split into four separate movements and voiced in 13 languages, this is a breathtaking orchestral-influenced work investigating female mystique, spiritual ascent, and corporal transformation, frequently by way of the perspective of various women saints. The dissolution of a romance—a theme treated with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—soars skyward here, supported by the lush sound of a major orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning songwriter within an extensive list of contributors. The pure ambition alone makes the efforts of other pop stars seem rather laughable.
Transcending Academic Exercise
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid overly intellectual chin-stroking feels nothing short of a miracle, and complete praise belonging to the artist. While this is not her first project to alchemize historical sounds with modern styles, the stakes are much higher here, and the balancing act far more dramatic. The element that really raises her fourth release, outside of its multilayered melodies, rich arrangements, and inherent theatricality, is a core sense of playfulness. Similar to the iconic Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous quality to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. When she is tearing your heart in two, the listener still desire to stay alongside her through the journey.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
That playful energy shines clearly during the stirring Italian song about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a sorrowful whirlpool for more than four minutes. Suddenly, all the music falls away, and there's a gleeful laugh followed by a declaration before a hilariously exaggerated string surge crashes down like cartoonish force. The song then segues to the wild track featuring racing strings, a powerful choral group, and a cameo appearance from the artist herself.
"The charm with this album is that the listener never exactly know—nor wish to know—what you will go next."
Almost every song concludes in a completely distinct place from how it began. A track explores the transient nature of celebrity with a featherlight orchestration only to disintegrating in electronic chaos. Another, a song echoing the artist's earlier trap-infused style starts out moody and brooding, with prowling beats, until sudden flamenco handclaps and an angelic chorus enter to soften its jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Art & Accessibility
A key achievement of the album is navigating the gap between radical experimentation and broad appeal. This is little surprise that the album has achieved the artist's first release to break into the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track sung primarily in English swells on a chorus that seems to collect more and more infectious melodies while it spirals upward. This feat gets repeated by another powerful track that expands and constricts, weaving layered tunes as an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like song charms via its jaunty, theatrical drama and an anthemic chorus.
- Lyrically, it aligns the pop culture impact of other breakup anthems, eviscerating a former partner labeled an "emotional terrorist".
- Across these tracks, the singing have a sharp edge, akin to a storybook figure concealing a knife: "Top prize in being a scoundrel / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Banquet for the Ears
This album is popular music on a grand scale, a hungry grasp for capital-A Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism for sublime transcendence, creating a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its own inherent ridiculousness. This is a deep source of buried gems that takes time to fully explore but doesn't seem like hard work. Where some big releases of the year felt like feasting on meal, this record offers a sumptuous banquet at which the characters around the table, some intoxicated on sacred wine, flutter between conversations about ancient figures, the profound feeling of heartbreaking grief, and shared gossip about useless men. In essence, it's a modern-day theatrical production from pop's most restlessly inventive visionary.
