#1 on the 2025 Bacon Top 31 — Rosalía

January 31, 2026 by Royal Stuart in 2025, Top 31

To those of you who’ve hung out with me over the last three months, seeing this jaw-dropping album by Spanish singer / songwriter Rosalía at #1 is likely not a surprise. Sometime in mid-December, my family all made the snap assumption that this would end up being my #1 album of the year, and they weren’t wrong. Some might say I’ve been downright obsessed, but with good reason.

There is nothing available in popular music, of any era or style, like Rosalía’s fourth album, LUX. It’s a testament to the strength and confidence of the artist that she had the power to pull it off at this scale. This album is a modern opera with a full orchestra and pop-music hooks. It’s beautifully written and gorgeously, achingly sung by Rosalía, and features guest appearances of the voices of Björk, Yves Tumor, and Patti Smith; mixing talents by Nigel Godrich; composition from Charlotte Gainsbourg; production from Pharrell Williams; composition and production from Noah Goldstein; orchestration from the London Symphony Orchestra; and literally a hundred more artists and performers who lent their collectively enormous talents to this masterpiece.

LUX is sung mostly in Spanish. Additionally, Rosalía spent three years working with native-born translators, composing and learning passages for her to sing in thirteen (yes, 13) other languages, from English to Japanese to Ukrainian¹. At the album’s center is this angelic voice carrying it all forward, tackling a topic that is equally far-reaching and uber-intimate. As Pitchfork said in their review of the album, “With [Rosalía] as its lodestar, LUX advances like a crusade to conquer the mysteries of human existence.” That‘s all.

At its core, the album is a religious experience, focused on telling the stories of many Sainted and saintly women across time², and using their stories to guide us, question our existence and inform the reasons we carry on through this mortal coil. Within, Rosalía’s voice is otherworldly, and the three albums she’s released prior to this one proved she had the musical chops to pull off something of this scale.

She turned a teenage love of Spanish music into a degree in musicology at the Catalonia College of Music in Barcelona, graduating with honors thanks to her critically-acclaimed debut album Los Ángeles and her sophomore Spanish pop / hip hop / flamenco fusion album El mal querer in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Her third album, Motomami, which also featured production by the likes of Noah Goldstein and Pharrell, and has guest appearances by The Weeknd and Dominican rapper Tokischa, focused on reggaeton beats and experimental Spanish pop. It came out in 2022 and was recognized on a global scale (but had still not broken through my ethnocentric musical leanings).

In 2023, she was featured on “Oral,” by Björk, who both donated their profits from the song as a fundraiser to combat open pen fish farming in Iceland. Rosalía is now 33 (potentially notable as the apparent age of Jesus when he died), and with LUX she has taken the world by storm. Despite only having come out in early November, this album was ranked #1 of the year by Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, and NPR, seemingly universally loved by critics.

As 98% of the album is sung in a language other than my native English, the listening experience is unlike anything else. I typically love to sing along to songs (ask my wife). I’m no karaoke maestro, but if I even remotely know some of the words in a song I’ll find a way to sing along, deftly mumbling my way through the parts I don’t know, very much like that 30-year-old SNL commercial “Classic Sing-along with the Drunken Asses.” But I’ve butchered my way through the French in “Psycho Killer” and the nonsense European-sounding lyrics at the end of “Sun King” enough to know that trying to gracefully sing along to an album that glides through 14 different languages is another thing entirely.

I do have some non-English albums in my repertoire, but none that I’ve listened to as much as LUX in the past three months (it helps that this was also my 8-year-old’s favorite album of 2025). Being unable to sing along to these songs without feeling like I’m truly doing it a disservice (both lyrically, and sonically, such is Rosalía’s command of her instrument) has been a challenge. It’s resulted in a lot more whistling along, which is also not great (again, ask my wife). So unlike most music I listen to, the singer’s voice becomes another instrument, conveying an emotion, a feeling, without lyrics to guide me. A not dissimilar experience can be had listening to Sigur Rós (#18 in 2023 and #7 in 2012), as lead singer Jónsi (solo at #7 in 2010 as well) sings in Icelandic, English, and a nonsense language he calls Vonlenska. But in Sigur Rós, Jónsi’s voice is often mixed down and unintelligible, blending sonically into the music surrounding it. On LUX, Rosalía is omnipresent, the lead in every sense of the word.

Despite the language barrier, LUX is 60 minutes³ of emotional musical bliss. Each song is a favorite in its own way. “Berghain” (featured in the video above), was the first thing I heard from it, and it hooked me from the very first choral onslaught. Please pause your reading and watch the video above right now. Rosalía sings in a very high register while the symphony and choir sonically dance over, around, and through her. The coda arrives with Björk slowly singing in her unmistakable Icelandic-tinged English “The only way we’ll be saved is divine intervention.” And then Yves Tumor shows up at the very end, shout-quoting Mike Tyson (of all people), “I’ll fuck you till you love me.” It’s jarring and offensive, but matches the Carmina-Burana-like orchestration in the rest of the song. Oh so powerful.

Immediately following that song comes “La Perla,” a much more intricate love story of a song laden with acoustic guitar a butterfly-like flute and swelling strings. I say “love story,” but I can’t say that for sure — there are ways to look at the translation, but it’s much more fun to merely enjoy the lyrics sans translation, letting Rosalía’s tone dictate the story. And that’s probably the most magical part of the listening experience: despite not knowing the words, there’s an emotional quotient conveyed by her voice and the orchestration that tells you everything you need to feel.

For instance, in the delicate “Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti,” we don’t need to know that that title translates to “My Christ Cries Diamonds.” When Rosalía gets to the chorus, the emotional journey you’ve been taken on by her voice and the music tells you “now is when you should cry.” And then, by the end of the song, the vocals and the orchestra builds and builds, coming to an abrupt halt. We then hear Rosalía mid conversation, saying in English “that’s going to be the energy, and then” BRAHNG, humorously conveying to the person she’s talking to, and to us, what is happening to us, live in the song. It’s brilliant.

My current favorite on the album is one of the physical-media-only tracks, “Focu Ranni,” which starts with a robotic auto-tuned sound that evokes Sufjan Steven’s beloved Age of Adz (#3 in 2010). The song sounds more current than some of the more operatic turns on the album, blending digital and stringed sounds together in a way that would never hold together if it weren’t for Rosalía’s voice.

When you find yourself in a place to listen to the whole beautiful album, make sure you’re in an undisturbed space where you can give it your full attention. Headphones are preferable. In addition to the songs mentioned above, pay close attention to “Divinize,” “La Jugular, “Sauvignon Blanc,” and closer “Magnolias.” Each song is a masterpiece unto itself. Together, they are otherworldly.

2025 was an especially rich year for music — I could have easily done a top 50 of the year and still had albums left behind. But there could be no other #1. Not only is LUX the best album of 2025, it’s a strong contender for “album of the century.” Certainly album of the decade. Between this and Geese at #2, it’s nice to know that it’s still possible to experience surprise in music, that not everything is just a rehashing of the past. It leaves me excitedly anticipating what’s going to come out in 2026.

See you next year!

^{1. The fourteen languages for LUX: Arabic, Catalan, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Sicilian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.↩}
^{2. Thank god for Wikipedia. The stories of these women factor into the songs across LUX: Saint Rose of Lima Hildegard of Bingen, Vimala (one of the authors of the Buddhist Therīgāthā), Saint Rosalia of Palermo, Saint Teresa of Ávila (Teresa of Jesus), Joan of Arc, Sun Bu'er (of the Taoist Seven Masters of Quanzhen), Prophetess Miriam, Rabia Al-Adawiya, Anandamayi Ma, Ryōnen Gensō, Clare of Assisi, and Saint Olga of Kiev.↩}
^{3. 60 minutes and 18 songs long when listened to via physical media, 50 minutes and 15 songs long when listened to via streaming services. Song 12, “Focu ’Ranni,” 14, “Jeanne,” and 15, “Novia Robot,” can only be heard on CD and vinyl. Additionally, the length of song 10, “Dios Es un Stalker,” is 45 seconds longer on the physical versions, in a higher key and with an additional chorus and bridge.↩}

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#27 on the 2025 Bacon Top 31 — David Byrne

January 05, 2026 by Royal Stuart in 2025, Top 31

Who Is The Sky? by David Byrne

David Byrne released his first album, Talking Heads: 77, with is band of the same name in 1977. Talking Heads released four albums before Byrne released his first solo project in 1981 (his beautiful collaboration with Brian Eno, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts). The band released four additional records before officially splitting up in 1991, while Byrne continued to release solo albums and soundtracks for film and theater during and after the band’s short-but-fruitful existence. All told, then man has been a part of 30 records in the 48 years he’s been releasing music.

He is a true national treasure. (Despite having been born in Scotland, Byrne has triple citizenship between Great Britain, the US, and Ireland. He’s lived in NYC for decades.) He has gifted us with his art via recorded music and a myriad of media for nearly half a century. He’s stage-directed and choreographed dances throughout his musical career (if you’ve not seen the brilliant 1984 Jonathan Demme-directed Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, I highly recommended you put it at the top of your list – you will not be disappointed). He’s been the creative force behind multiple Broadway shows (The Catherine Wheel with Twyla Tharp, his own American Utopia, and a Broadway collaboration with Fatboy Slim called Here Lies Love). He’s written multiple books, on music and many other topics. Since 1990 he’s run a record label focused on bringing international sounds to a global audience, called Luaka Bop. In 2003 he toured a non-music presentation at college campuses called “I ♥ PowerPoint” that I had the pleasure of seeing live at Kane Hall at the University of Washington. He gave a TED talk in 2010. While not a true EGOT, he’s won an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony, a Golden Globe, and has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Byrne has a savant-like commitment¹ to making people feel connected, happy, and loved. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Byrne perform on stage six times since 2001, and each was filled with pure joy. One of those concerts was at Benaroya Hall, where the Seattle Symphony performs, promoting his collaboration with St. Vincent (the album, called Love This Giant, featured at #15 in 2012).

To promote his tenth solo album, the fantastic Who Is The Sky?, created in collaboration with a musical ensemble called Ghost Train Orchestra, Byrne built a stage set that saw him and 14 other musicians and dancers all performing on top of and surrounded by giant LED screens. The scenes surrounding the performers alternated through locales as varied as the surface of the moon (while playing Talking Heads’ “Heaven”), a NYC rooftop (performing “Strange Overtones” from Byrne’s second collaboration with Brian Eno, 2008’s Everything That Happens Will Happen Today), and a 360° view of the interior of Byrne’s Brooklyn apartment (while playing Who Is The Sky?’s “My Apartment is My Friend,” of course). Each song throughout the nearly 2-hour set featured choreographed dances for the entire 15-person crew, with even the musicians mobilized thanks to special mounts and harnesses for their instruments. It was magical.

Byrne’s solo music over the last 20 years has tended towards more “safe” territory than the Talking Heads ever did. “Everybody Laughs,” featured in the video above, is a prime example. There are no surprises, but there’s also nothing to dislike. Add in Byrne’s electrified presence, and you can see why why we all keep coming back. He’s released another video from the album, a black-and-white animated singalong for the song “What is the Reason For it?,” which features Hayley Williams, the lead singer of rock band Paramore. And then there’s a video for non-album track “T Shirt,” which I first heard and saw as part of the Who Is They Sky? concert.

While it doesn’t compare to the live stage show, you can get a small sense of it by watching the crew’s Tiny Desk Concert from December. They managed to fit all 15 of them behind the desk, performing a few key songs from the show.

Byrne is 73 years old, and showing no signs of slowing down. While his albums alone don’t “wow,” everything else he brings to the world more than makes for it, keeping him near the top of “must see” lists everywhere. I can’t wait to see what he can do in the second half of his century of performing.

^{1. Despite having never been formally diagnosed, Bryne said in 2012 that he felt that music was his way of communicating when he could not do it face-to-face “because of [his] autism”.↩}

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#23 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — The Good, the Bad & the Queen

January 09, 2019 by Royal Stuart

Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen

Damon Albarn, despite all expectations to the contrary, has staying power. Having far outgrown the quibbles he and his first band, Blur, had with competing London rockers Oasis, Albarn has accomplished so much in his musical career that it’s astounding to think he’s only 50 years old, with so much more living — and, presumably, music — left to do.

Blur released their first album, Leisure, in 1991. Including that seminal album, Albarn has been a principle part of the production for eight Blur albums, six Gorrilaz albums, six various collaboration albums, one solo album and now, with Merrie Land, two albums with the collective known as The Good, the Bad & the Queen. That’s 23 albums in 27 years, an astounding feat for anyone. His 23rd album, here at #23; I swear I didn’t plan that.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen is by all measures a proverbial “supergroup”, featuring the aforementioned Albarn as the principle lyricist/vocalist, and a band made up of: The Clash’s bassist, Paul Simonon; The Verve’s guitarist, Simon Tong; and “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived” (according to Brian Eno), Tony Allen. (Allen was the drummer and musical director for Fela Kuti’s band Africa from 1968-1979, whose work was the main influence for the Talking Heads’ album Remain in Light that was covered so beautifully by Angelique Kidjo and appeared at #30 just a week ago. So if you follow the bouncing ball: Tony Allen created Afrobeat with Fela Kuti, which in turn influenced the Talking Heads which was then covered by Kidjo and now the originator appears here in an entirely different context. I just blew my own mind.)

Merrie Land is the supergroup’s second album, but is markedly different from their 2007 debut, which was produced by Danger Mouse and was created under very different political circumstances. Albarn has stated that the new album, which was produced this time around by Tony Visconti (who — get this — won a grammy for his production of Angélique Kidjo’s 2007 album Djin Djin), is rooted in his personal goodbyes to the pre-Brexit Great Britain. Listen closely to the dark lyrics, and you can figure out exactly where Albarn’s loyalties lie.

Albarn takes the visuals of the music to new heights, with the album cover featuring an image from a 1945 horror film called Dead of Night where a ventriloquist is taken over by his dummy. Going further into the ventriloquist arena, Albarn dons dummy makeup and stars in a lip-syncing video for each song from the new album:

That’s a level of dedication to creative output that most musicians don’t or won’t tackle, but Albarn gives out like candy, and it’s much appreciated. If you’ve ever been a fan of Albarn in any of his many incarnations, then you should check out Merrie Land right now.

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24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

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#30 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Angélique Kidjo

January 02, 2019 by Royal Stuart

Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo

Those who know about these things may find it debatable as to where rock ’n’ roll began, but they all agree that the roots of rock ’n’ roll are a combination of African musical tradition with European instrumentation. White musicians have appropriated African rhythms into their music since before the dawn of rock ’n’ roll in the mid-1900s. And a few of those musicians have done so to their own great benefit, namely the Talking Heads in the late 70s / early 80s (and David Byrne beyond), Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel in the 80s and 90s, and all the way up to Vampire Weekend in the late 2000s / early 10s.

Enter Angélique Kidjo, a three-time grammy-winning Beninese (via-Paris and finally New York City) singer / songwriter. After a long and fruitful career of writing her own music (starting in 1981 with her debut Pretty) Kidjo has taken her music in a new direction, latching onto the seminal Talking Heads album Remain in Light and recording a track-for-track remake, pulling what was a rock ’n’ roll album back over to the African roots it always hinted at. If you didn’t recognize the David Byrne lyrics in these songs, you would most definitely be fooled into thinking these songs began with Kidjo in Africa.

According to Pitchfork, Kidjo first heard “Once in a Lifetime,” the big hit from Remain in Light, at a college party after escaping Benin for Paris in 1983. The song lodged itself in her brain, but only 35 years later did she seek out its source (even after having been championed by David Byrne in the 90s). She heard the full album and was moved by its continued political relevance, 30+ years after its debut. So she spun it for herself, and created this masterpiece.

It’s exciting to hear these songs in a brand new way. Remain in Light is one of my favorite all-time albums, and Kidjo’s renditions breathe new life into it. While this was my first exposure to Kidjo, I feel that’s a result of me not paying attention. For instance, here’s Kidjo with Ezra Koenig on stage at Austin City Limits during her 2014 PBS special, performing Vampire Weekend’s “I Think Ur a Contra”. Brilliant. Give this album a listen, whether you’re familiar with the original or not. You will not be disappointed.

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31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

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