Less than two years after Brat reset the pop conversation, Charli XCX is treating the soundtrack format as a real pivot, not a side quest. Wuthering Heights, her 12-track companion album to Emerald Fennell’s new film leans into what she called a world that felt “raw, wild, sexual, gothic… British, tortured,” and the music follows through with an “elegant and brutal” rulebook inspired by John Cale.
The center of gravity is strings and texture: droning orchestration, bursts of feedback, and industrial pressure that still leave space for Charli’s pop instincts—Auto‑Tuned hooks, sharp melodies, and melodrama you can sing back. “House” opens like a haunted overture, with Cale’s weathered spoken‑word presence setting the stakes (“I think I’m gonna die in this house”). Across the record, Charli and longtime collaborators including Finn Keane and Justin Raisen build an album that plays like a standalone mood board, not background music. The project is out now via Atlantic.
