HABEMUS “BERGHAIN”: ROSALÍA’S LUX LEAD SINGLE

words by VERONICA TLAPANCO SZABÓ

Art demands exposure, a willingness to lay bare what’s hidden and Rosalía, as always, goes all in. Through the gatekept doors of “Berghain”, she unearths something that feels both sacred and decadent. Rosalía’s classical training has never been this front and centre, composing in three languages, collaborating with the London Symphony Orchestra, and weaving liturgy through electronica. Everything about LUX, her upcoming album, signals grandeur. 

image via Instagram @rosalia.vt

While songs are now being churned out by the minute, Rosalía chose the long game. LUX has been three years in the making, standing against the accelerationism of pop. The holy imagery we’ve seen so far nods back to El Mal Querer, a full-circle moment if you will (just take a look at the covers). The first hint of this new era appeared to our surprise, on her Substack: two images, a few lyrics and sheet music, titled in bold capitals—BERGHAIN. A clue only the musically literate could fully decode… 

images via Substack @ R O S A L Í A

As for the track itself, Rosalía's operatic voice in German? Blessed be, further backed by a full orchestra, mobilised for the music video. The visuals are a spectacle of cinematic breadth, with a frame-for-frame Snow White reference, a fitting nod to a German fairy tale… before everything unravels into a fever dream. 

Björk appears. As a bird. Of course. 

Then Yves Tumor enters, and suddenly we’re plunged into a Lars von Trier Antichrist-esque moment, with a doe bleeding from its eyes. The meaning behind the title “Berghain” reveals itself as no coincidence; the legendary Berlin techno temple, long mythologised for its hermetic, near-religious atmosphere, becomes here the meeting point of faith and flesh, the divine and the profane. You will hear from us again on the 7th of November once the full album drops, in the meantime LUXLULUXLUXLUXLUXLUXLUXLUXLUXLUXLUX.