Highlights
- New Album Announced: Charli XCX has officially announced her next full-length album, Wuthering Heights, set for release on February 13 via Atlantic.
- Surprise Follow-Up: The new record is a swift and unexpected follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2024 album, Brat, and its subsequent deluxe and remix versions.
- Cinematic Inspiration: The album was born from Charli’s work on Emerald Fennell’s upcoming film adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel of the same name.
- New Single Out Now: The announcement is accompanied by the release of the album’s first single, “Chains of Love.”
A New Era is Upon Us: Wuthering Heights
Just as the world was settling into the vibrant green haze of her blockbuster album Brat, Charli XCX has pivoted dramatically, announcing a brand-new project that promises a starkly different sonic and thematic landscape. Her upcoming album, titled Wuthering Heights, is slated for a February 13 release and marks a surprising and rapid follow-up to her recent success.
The first taste of this new era arrives with the lead single, “Chains of Love,” which is now available for streaming.
From Club Nights to Gothic Moors
The inspiration for Wuthering Heights came from an unexpected source: Charli XCX’s collaboration with filmmaker Emerald Fennell on a new movie adaptation of the Emily Brontë literary classic. What started as a request for a single song quickly spiraled into a full-blown concept album.
“I called Emerald and asked her what she was hoping for from my read of the script,” Charli explained on her Substack. “She coyly suggested ‘A song?’ and I suggested ‘An album?’ because why not? I wanted to dive into persona, into a world that felt undeniably raw, wild, sexual, gothic, British, tortured and full of actual real sentences, punctuation and grammar.”
She described the project as a complete departure from her recent life and aesthetic, adding, “Without a cigarette or a pair of sunglasses in sight, it was all totally other from the life I was currently living. I was fucking IN.”
The Sound of “Elegant and Brutal”
To craft the album’s sound, Charli XCX primarily collaborated with producer and songwriter Finn Keane, also known as Easyfun. The duo established a core sonic principle inspired by a documentary on The Velvet Underground.
“From the very start of our process we were discussing the Todd Hayne’s documentary about The Velvet Underground and in particular this one quote from John Cale where he describes that the main sonic rule of creating songs for the band was that all things had to be both ‘elegant and brutal,’” she wrote. “We started to live by this description as we created songs for the Wuthering Heights album throughout most of this year.”
The 12-track album will open with “House,” her recent collaboration with the legendary Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale, setting a tone that merges artistic history with Charli’s futuristic pop sensibilities. Following the massive cultural impact of Brat, Brat and It’s the Same but There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not, and Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat, this new project signals that Charli XCX is not just riding a wave—she’s creating a new one entirely.