A ray of sunshine
I am not one of those pretentious music listeners who can’t bear listening to a pop album without complaining about its lack of depth. Conversely, and although “The Fate of Ophelia” is a bona fide earworm, I will not go as far as to say Taylor Swift is the Mozart of our times. What I’m most interested in is those moments in musical history when artistry meets commercial appeal: think the Beatles, naturally, Queen, my absolute favorite, Kendrick Lamar, more recently…
Today’s such outlier hails from Spain, and has been steadily rising both in notoriety and acclaim with each new album: Rosalía. Motomami, her third effort released 3 years ago, attracted a lot of attention for its innovative blend of reggaeton, electro and pop. You could tell this was no ordinary latinx performer, no offense to Bad Bunny and Luis Fonsi. There was a distinct vision and style, although it was still somewhat imbued in a particular musical genre.
Enters 2025’s Lux and its breakthrough single, “Berghain”. A lot of things went extremely right with this one: the teaser for said single, which got me tremendously intrigued for one. Despite the title referring to Berlin’s world-famous nightclub, it featured a full-on classical orchestra complete with a lavish string section. Then came the actual song: a remarkable blend of classical and pop music, with Rosalía’s vocals on par with classically trained singers. And that’s saying something from a Freddie Mercury superfan.
The rest of the album, although at times a little more formulaic, overwhelmingly delivers: interesting blends of classical, pop, electro, flamenco-infused themes and harmonies, with Rosalía’s unmistakable presence and impeccable production. With an interesting twist: following the singer’s strong desire to sound analog, there is no AI involved in this set and the whole thing sounds incredibly “real”. Mission absolutely accomplished.
Cherry on the cake: last week, Lux overtook Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl as most streamed album in the world on Spotify. That’s what I’m talking about: making great music and the world recognizing it… ¡Gracias!