Three years after Motomami solidified her global status, Rosalía returns with a bold new album that challenges the boundaries of mainstream music. The Barcelona-born singer, known for blending flamenco with contemporary sounds, has shifted gears once again.
In a candid moment, Rosalía lets out an exasperated laugh as she relaxes in the black pants and camo jacket lined with fur that she wore when arriving. The jacket, which she was spotted wearing at a Parisian café earlier in October, is a stark contrast to her usual glamorous attire. There, she was seen quietly sipping tea while studying sheet music from Puccini’s 1900 opera Tosca, an indication that she was immersing herself in influences well outside the current trends of modern music.
Her deep dive into classical music isn’t an accident. Rosalía studied musicology at university and has spent the past eight years blending various genres and cultural influences into her sound. However, her quiet study of operatic music was a subtle clue that she was preparing to break free from the conventional expectations of a global pop star.
Fans began to see the bigger picture on October 20, when Rosalía took to Madrid’s bustling Callao Square for a dramatic reveal. Giant projectors displayed a countdown, ultimately unveiling the release date of her fourth album, Lux (due November 7 on Columbia Records), along with its striking cover art: Rosalía dressed in white, wearing a nun’s habit and holding herself in a tender embrace beneath the folds of her garment.
Over the past three years, Rosalía has been carefully crafting Lux, an album that feels both deeply personal and incredibly ambitious. Following the success of El Mal Querer, her flamenco-pop debut in 2018, and Motomami—a genre-defying 2022 album that fused reggaetón, hip-hop, electronic and more—Lux represents a radical departure. This new project is an orchestral, operatic work recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. It seamlessly merges historical and spiritual themes, experimenting with form, language (Rosalía sings in 13 different languages across 18 tracks), and the very notion of what a major recording artist can achieve in 2025.
As Afo Verde, chairman and CEO of Sony Latin Iberia, notes, “It’s like an album she wrote to God—whatever each person feels God is to them. This is an artist who said, ‘I want to walk down a path where few walk.’ And when you listen to the album, you completely understand the genius behind it.”
Lux is a stunning fusion of opera, spirituality, and pop sensibilities—an album that showcases Rosalía’s fearless creativity and dedication to pushing the limits of what music can express.