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On the surface, this work might appear closer to a challenging academic challenge rather than a new pop record from an artist whose last hit was a collaboration with an international pop star. Split across four separate parts and voiced in thirteen languages, we have a head-spinning classical-tinged opus exploring female mystery, religious transcendence, and corporal change, often through the prism of various saintly figures. The end of a love affair—a topic treated with grounded honesty elsewhere—is launched upwards on this record, carried by the lush presence of a major symphony orchestra and work from a Pulitzer-winning composer among a vast list of collaborators. The pure daring alone renders the efforts of contemporary artists seem rather small.

Rising Above Academic Pretense

The fact that this album manages to escape dry intellectual posturing feels nothing short of miraculous, with full credit belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not the first time project to blend historical sounds with the present, the stakes are much greater here, and the tightrope walk far more precarious. What truly raises her fourth album, beyond its multilayered melodies, dense arrangements, and inherent drama, is a core spirit of playfulness. Similar to the iconic artist at her peak, there is a wondrous quality to the vocalist's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. Even when she's breaking your heart in two, the listener still desire to be right there through the ride.

A Prime Example of Exuberance

This playful energy comes forth brightly during the stirring Italian ballad about a saint. It bathes in a sorrowful melancholy for several minutes. Then, all the music drops away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle and a comment prior to a comically exaggerated orchestral crescendo crashes in like comedic force. The track then shifts into the wild single driven by racing orchestration, a powerful choir, and a cameo role from none other than Björk.

"The charm of this album is that you never exactly know—nor want to predict—what you will go next."

Nearly each track finishes at a completely different point from how it started. One moment explores the fleeting nature of celebrity with a featherlight symphony before collapsing into digital cacophony. Elsewhere, a cut echoing her previous trap-infused style begins off moody and brooding, featuring menacing vocals, until fluttering flamenco handclaps and a heavenly choir arrive to soften its rough edges.

The Balance Between Experiment & Accessibility

A key achievement on the album is navigating the line of radical innovation and mainstream appeal. This is little surprise that it has achieved her first work to crack the upper reaches of major charts: at its core a suite of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track sung entirely in English swells on a refrain that feels to collect increasingly nagging melodies as it spins upward. That feat is echoed by another powerful ballad that expands and contracts, intertwining multiple tunes as a complex weave.

• A waltz-like song charms via its playful, theatrical flair and a chant-along hook.
• Lyrically, it aligns the cultural impact of contemporary breakup anthems, eviscerating a former lover labeled an "emotional bully".
• Across the album, the singing have a sharp edge, akin to a fairy-tale character hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a scoundrel / You've the podium of disappointment."

A Maximalist Feast for the Ears

This album is popular music on a grand level, a hungry grasp for capital-A artistry amid of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism in favor of sublime transcendence, creating an over-the-top spectacle that masterfully controls its built-in excess. It is a deep source of buried gems that requires time to fully explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While other major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record offers a lavish feast where the guests at the table, perhaps tipsy on holy drink, flit from discussions about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of heartbreaking grief, and common stories about hopeless men. In essence, it's a modern-day musical from pop's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.