On the surface, this work may look closer to a challenging scholarly examination rather than a new pop record from an artist whose previous hit featured a global K-pop star. Divided into four separate parts and performed in thirteen languages, this is a head-spinning symphonic work exploring feminine mystique, religious ascent, and physical transformation, frequently through the perspective of different female saints. The end of a relationship—a theme handled with raw honesty elsewhere—soars heavenward here, supported by the constant presence of a full orchestra and contributions from a Pulitzer-winning composer within a vast roll call of contributors. Its sheer audacity alone renders the work of contemporary pop stars seem rather small.
Rising Above Scholarly Exercise
The fact that this album manages to avoid dry intellectual chin-stroking feels nearly a miracle, with complete credit belonging to Rosalía. While this is not her first album to blend historical sounds and the present, its scale feel far higher here, and the tightrope walk more dramatic. What really elevates her fourth release, outside of its complex tunes, rich compositions, and engrained theatricality, proves to be an essential sense of joy. Much like the legendary artist during her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's singing that pulls you up in its tornado. When she is tearing your heart apart, the listener nevertheless desire to stay right there for the ride.
A Signature Moment of Exuberance
That exuberant spirit shines brightly on a stirring piano-led ballad about Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for several minutes. Suddenly, everything falls silent, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment prior to a hilariously exaggerated string surge thuds down like cartoonish force. The song then shifts to the wild track featuring galloping strings, an imposing choral group, and a surprise appearance from none other than Björk.
"The magic with this album is that the listener never exactly understand—nor wish to know—where it will go to next."
Nearly each track finishes in a completely different place than where it began. A track explores the fleeting trappings of celebrity over a featherlight symphony before collapsing into digital chaos. Another, a cut echoing the artist's earlier rhythmic style starts off dark and sinister, with prowling beats, until sudden traditional rhythms and a heavenly chorus enter to soften the song's jagged edges.
The Bridge Of Experiment & Accessibility
Another crucial achievement of the album is navigating the gap of bold experimentation and broad accessibility. This is little coincidence that the album has achieved the artist's highest-charting release to break into the Top 5 of key charts: at its core a suite of utterly catchy pop songs. A song performed entirely in English swells around a refrain that seems to gather increasingly nagging melodies as it spirals upward. This trick gets repeated by another expansive track that grows and constricts, intertwining layered tunes as an intricate tapestry.
- A dance-infused song charms via its playful, Disney-adjacent drama and an anthemic hook.
- In its words, it shares with pop culture impact of other heartbreak songs, lambasting a former partner labeled an "emotional bully".
- Throughout the album, the vocals have a painted-on edge, akin to a storybook figure hiding a knife: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You have won the trophy of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album represents pop on a grand scale, an ambitious grasp for high Art in an era of looming AI-generated sameness. It eschews solipsism for glorious elevation, creating an over-the-top drama that skillfully controls its own built-in ridiculousness. It is a deep well of hidden treasure that takes patience to fully explore but doesn't feels like hard work. While other big pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, this record offers a sumptuous banquet where the characters at it, some intoxicated on holy drink, flit between conversations about ancient saints, the galvanizing feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about useless partners. It is a contemporary theatrical production from music's most restlessly inventive practitioner.