12 votes

Rosalía's LUX is NPR Music's No. 1 album of 2025

Posted by all_summer_beauty
Tags: pop, hip hop, classical, spain, year in review.2025, albums, releases, musicians, rosalia, opera, flamenco, lists, author.stephen thompson, author.robin hilton, author.felix contreras, author.anamaria artemisa sayre, source.npr
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/g-s1-99933/the-best-album-of-2025

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Title
The Best Album of 2025 is...
Authors
Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton, Felix Contreras, Anamaria Artemisa Sayre
Published
Dec 11 2025
Word count
1046 words

7 comments

  1. [4]
    all_summer_beauty
    (edited )
    Link
    I just listened to this for the first time yesterday and it kind of blew my mind. I unfortunately don't speak Spanish (or Italian, or German, or . . .) well enough to fully appreciate it but it's...

    At the moment this fall when NPR Music's staff began discussing our picks for the best albums of 2025, the mere existence of the record we'd eventually name our No. 1 – in a landslide, it must be said – was not known to anyone on our team. But as soon as we heard Rosalía's magnificent, head-spinning LUX in early November, one spot on our list was instantly confirmed.

    For most of the year, consensus felt hard to come by. We all found plenty of music to love, but we weren't always drawn toward the same signals. LUX was different. Of the dozen critics and hosts who submitted lists, more than half included it in their top 10. Four of us said it was the best thing we heard all year. Below, each of them makes the argument for why it deserves that crown.

    I just listened to this for the first time yesterday and it kind of blew my mind. I unfortunately don't speak Spanish (or Italian, or German, or . . .) well enough to fully appreciate it but it's still wildly impressive and beautiful. I also know basically nothing about Rosalía so I can't provide any additional context, but I can tell you that her voice is incredible and that creating this is an astounding feat of musicianship. I drove several hours yesterday and started my trip with LUX. I'm running that drive back today and I think I'll be starting with it again.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      Captain_calico
      Link Parent
      I would highly suggest her other album El Mal Querer then. She is a traditionally trained flamenco artist, graduated from Catalonia College Music. El Mal Querer started as a bacheloraute project...

      I would highly suggest her other album El Mal Querer then. She is a traditionally trained flamenco artist, graduated from Catalonia College Music. El Mal Querer started as a bacheloraute project was inspired from 13th-century Occitan novel Flamenca. Lux is a spiritual successor of that album. I love how she can lean into her training to make something so lush and experimental.

      3 votes
      1. all_summer_beauty
        Link Parent
        El Mal Querer is definitely on my list! Sounds very cool, I love a good concept album. Thanks for the rec!

        El Mal Querer is definitely on my list! Sounds very cool, I love a good concept album. Thanks for the rec!

    2. Vito
      Link Parent
      I found it very interesting when my classical music loving mother insisted that I watch the videoclip for Berghain. When I finally did, I understood why. Rosalía could be making millions just by...

      I found it very interesting when my classical music loving mother insisted that I watch the videoclip for Berghain. When I finally did, I understood why. Rosalía could be making millions just by composing mindless reggaeton, but she's obviously a real artist.

  2. [3]
    Staross
    Link
    I listened to it a couple of time but it didn't really grab my attention, but at least it's original and quite well done for such a popular artist.

    I listened to it a couple of time but it didn't really grab my attention, but at least it's original and quite well done for such a popular artist.

    1 vote
    1. TommyTenToes
      Link Parent
      It's certainly not for everyone. There's moments that I love in it and maybe more will arise as I listen to it more but it's definitely an acquired taste for me. While this is cliched, Rosalia has...

      It's certainly not for everyone. There's moments that I love in it and maybe more will arise as I listen to it more but it's definitely an acquired taste for me.

      While this is cliched, Rosalia has mentioned that she's not interested in pursuing hit songs. From my perspective, it feels like she proved she could get on the charts with MOTOMAMI (which actually included the lyrics "my career won't be all hits") and has now moved on to going after her own artistic vision.

      My favorite thing about her is that she joined a Spanish YouTuber for an analysis of MOTOMAMI after this YouTuber created an excellent analysis of the previous album and got a few million views. Pretty awesome to see her taking the chance to explain her art in this context.

      3 votes
    2. all_summer_beauty
      Link Parent
      Yeah, it's certainly not for everyone, but no art is. What I really appreciate about it is that it's so new and different, while still being really beautiful and engaging (at least to me). There's...

      Yeah, it's certainly not for everyone, but no art is. What I really appreciate about it is that it's so new and different, while still being really beautiful and engaging (at least to me). There's nothing wrong with applying your artistry to create more things in established paradigms, but, IMO, where art/creativity shines the most is in doing things that no one's done before and nailing it.