It was only a matter of when. In the long tail of her big Brat moment from two summers ago, Charli XCX has been on a prolific tear, taking on a slew of acting roles last year (including her own mockumentary, The Moment) and releasing a full soundtrack album for Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights in February. So it was surprising when she revealed in an April cover story for British Vogue that she's prepping a new rock-oriented album, the proper follow-up to Brat. Now that album has been officially announced, and its noteworthy cover art has been revealed.
The new Charli album is called Music, Fashion, Film. It's dropping in July, and yes, that image above is the cover art. It finds John Cale (Charli's "House" collaborator), Marc Jacobs, and Martin Scorsese posed together in a room. Aidan Zamiri, who directed The Moment and Charli's recent music videos, shot the photo.
After that magazine article dropped, Charli logged on to assert that she never actually said she was making a rock album. Rather, she was just quoting the chorus of her single "Rock Music": "I think the dance floor is dead/ So now we're making rock music." "Rock Music" incorporates rock elements but is not a conventional rock tune by any means, and it sparked plenty of discourse about Charli's intentions. (She later chimed in, "things can be funny, earnest, sincere, and joyful all at the same time and that’s what i feel about a lot of the things i make.") Subsequent single "SS26" brought a similar irreverence to the world of high-stakes fashion. I guess we should expect a film-oriented single next?
Music, Fashion, Film will feature "Rock Music" and "SS26," but not the B-sides "I Keep Thinking About You Every Single Day And Night" and "Playboy Bunny," which exist only on Instagram and vinyl. No further information about the tracklist is available for now. The tracklist includes 11 songs total. Charli XCX and her husband, the 1975's George Daniel, held a surprise DJ set and "Conversations" event in London Sunday, previewing tracks from the new album. It followed a similar recent event in NYC.
In a TikTok video Sunday night, Charli shared these thoughts on the new LP:
So I made an album and it's really different from the last one. Yeah. That is a fact. Um, and I love it. And… you might not [laughs]. And that's cool. So… yeah. But if you do, then that's cute. But if you don't, then that's totally OK. Because that's just what it is to have personal preferences.
You really need to see her say it to fully understand the vibe. Watch below.
@charlixcx love you <3
♬ original sound - Charli XCX
Music, Fashion, Film is out 7/24 on Atlantic. Pre-order it here.
