‘LUX’ by Rosalía: Faith Turned Into Art

After more than three years of silence, the Catalan artist returns with LUX, an album that unites the sacred and the human through music, language, and emotion. It’s an orchestral and multilingual work that moves between prayer and desire, between the flamenco of her roots and a modern spirituality that defies borders.

Months of Expectation

For months, the public had been following a true game of clues. Since midyear, Rosalía’s fans had expected that September 4th, Saint Rosalia’s Day, would bring some announcement about her new album: its title, release date, or at least a concrete hint. Instead, the artist posted a selfie next to the portrait of the saint painted by Anton van Dyck and then went silent again. Up to that point, little was known, but what was known mattered: Rosalía was working on a deeply spiritual and introspective project, far removed from the frenzy of Motomami and conceived in the creative intimacy that, as she told Elle USA, “a seed needs in order to grow.”

The Launch Campaign and Berghain

The pre-release campaign was a performance in itself. On October 14th, Rosalía changed her profile picture for the first time since Motomami replacing it with a bright flash of light. Shortly after, she deactivated her Twitter (X) account, leaving behind one final tweet: “LUX = LOVE”. That same day, she posted a photo dump on Instagram where she could be seen wearing a T-shirt reading “god complex” in a tavern in Poland. Meanwhile, she launched her Substack newsletter with a text titled Una escalera hasta Dios (“A Stairway to God”), where she reflected on the body as a musical instrument and creativity as a path to transcendence, accompanied by an image of Maria Callas.

In the following days, sheet music titled Berghain began appearing in iconic locations across Madrid, New York, and other cities, sparking theories about the album’s release date. On October 20th, Rosalía concluded the campaign with a surprise appearance in Madrid’s Plaza del Callao: dressed in white, with a golden halo in her hair and a rosary hanging from a car, she revealed the cover of LUX and its release date: November 7th.

On the evening of Monday, October 27th, Rosalía released Berghain, the album’s first single, featuring Björk and Yves Tumor. With this track, named after the famous Berlin nightclub, Rosalía confirmed the sacred and avant-garde tone of this new era. The music video, directed by Nicolás Méndez (CANADA), presents striking Christian imagery: a deer transforming into a human, a white dove symbolizing redemption, and the artist bathed in light as if witnessing her own transfiguration.

Thirteen Languages for Thirteen Saints

LUX is structured as a mystical journey in thirteen languages. Rosalía explained that each language corresponds to a saint or spiritual figure from a different culture. Among the most notable are Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti, a lyrical prayer in Italian that moves between love and faith; and De Madrugá, a track combining Spanish and Ukrainian, inspired by Olga of Kyiv, a symbol of vengeance and spiritual conversion. In the latter, Rosalía unites both languages in a mantra she repeats: “De madrugá, de madrugá (На світанку).”

This diversity is also reflected in the collaborations. In addition to Björk and Yves Tumor, LUX features Yahritza y su Esencia on La Perla, an acoustic-rooted song that many fans interpret as directed at Rauw Alejandro (others at C. Tangana). The production reunites Rosalía with El Guincho, Noah Goldstein, and Sir Dylan, who also shaped much of Motomami’s sound. The symphonic touch comes from the London Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Escolania de Montserrat children’s choir whose inclusion has stirred controversy among Catalan independents due to the use of Spanish in the choruses.

Echoes from Southern Europe

Amid its universality, LUX also turns its gaze toward the south of the continent, where the soul of flamenco, fado, and Mediterranean folk song intertwine. Highlights include La Rumba del Perdón, echoing rumba and religious reflections on forgiveness, and Memória, an emotional collaboration with fado singer Carminho that stands as one of the album’s most moving gems. In it, both artists seek each other like two souls separated by time, uniting their voices in a chant that transcends language and borders.

Furthermore, in one of the songs exclusive to the physical versions (CD and vinyl), Rosalía draws inspiration from her namesake to sing in Sicilian. In Focu ‘ranni, which means “great fire,” the singer speaks of the feeling of liberation after a breakup.

“Throw Magnolias at Me”

The album closes with Magnolias, a mournful ballad in which Rosalía imagines her own funeral. “Algún que otro navajazo me he llevado de la vida” (“I’ve taken more than a few stabs from life”), she sings with a trembling voice as the strings rise toward the light. The magnolias, symbols of purity and sacrifice, represent Saint Flora, a nun who left her convent to care for the sick.The artist concludes with a line that encapsulates the entire spirit of the album:

And what I didn’t do in life, you’ll do in my death.

A reflection on art that transcends the flesh, on faith as a creative act, and on the beauty born from pain.

With LUX, Rosalía delivers not only her most ambitious and mature work to date but also a statement: spirituality can be as experimental as pop, and vulnerability as powerful as faith. If Motomami was an explosion of flesh and chaos, LUX is its luminous counterpart, a contemporary mass in which the artist transforms pain into eternity.

You can listen to LUX by Rosalía here: