Charli XCX- Music, Fashion, Film
Label: Atlantic
Producers: A.G. Cook, Finn Keane
When Charli XCX’s 2024 album, Brat became the kind of viral music sensation that defines the TikTok era in popular music and culture, it represented the kind of revitalizing comeback that is so rare in the pop sphere. Suddenly, XCX ‘s music was dominating the dance-club scene, a full decade and more after her breakthrough hits first gave her a presence on the Hot 100. We’d expect a hit-maker in this position to double-down on the sound of their previous record, in hopes of maintaining their mainstream relevance as long as they can. However, we find different priorities pursued on Music, Fashion, Film. After pivoting to a haunting cinematic realm on this past winter’s Wuthering Heights soundtrack, Charli does indeed wonder what follows a Brat-summer, but repeating it is nowhere near the goal of this album. Rather, that success serves as merely a precipice for the considerably deeper contemplation that she explores throughout.
Sonically, all anticipatory signs pointed toward an overt transition into rock, and for good reason. Opening track and lead single is literally titled “Rock Music”, and finds her making the pointed declaration that “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music”. It’s a fairly accurate signifier overall, with the album employing a sound that is anchored in alternative, post-punk, and industrial stylings. But there’s also a winking, intentionally shit-stirring novelty underscored by the undeniable contagion and sardonic nature of tracks like “SS26” and “Card Declined”; doomsday moments at their core but ones that don’t forsake Charli’s sly approach to pop music. This allows the record to arrive at a pleasing intersection, both narratively and musically, that will tempt both her past pop-head following, as well as the gatekeepers of the modern alternative scene. Charli goes deeper than she ever has on this album, but does so with a coy indifference that creeps in at times to lighten the mood.
Which is not said to diminish the reflective and potent merit of the songs and this record overall. Because as a whole, this is a gritty and inspired body of work, and a pointed social commentary on both the benefits and pitfalls of fame, wealth, and youth. As a listener it feels like you’re hearing Charli XCX grapple with the implications of these components on both her personal and professional identities in real time. She isn’t doing this to merely swerve the industry, or to subvert what many would expect from her creatively after Brat. She is in reality grasping to understand what her good fortune means for her artistic legacy, her relationships, and her future life-path. And in the process she, in both gripping and trippy fashion, parlays those considerations into grander observations about modern society, and how we all find our own sources of superficial comforts to the darker implications of life.
This all comes to a rather prophetic head on the album’s closer, “No One Lasts Forever”, which potently ponders the true implications of our work, our lives, and the legacies we leave behind. It’s hauntingly punctuated with a two-minute, spoken-word conclusion from Canadian, horror-filmmaker, David Croenenberg, whose contribution truly fulfills the ethereal, avant-garde machinations of the entire album. It reaffirms Music, Fashion, Film as not only a statement of artistic freedom for Charli XCX, but one of curiosity and wonder relative to what her overall destiny will prove to be, musically and otherwise. It results in what is both an intriguing and entertaining record; one worthy of becoming its own kind of late-summer sensation, and a creative benchmark that will be worth revisiting long after the season passes.
Track Listing:
- “Rock Music” (Charli XCX, A.G. Cook, Finn Keane)
- “SS26” (XCX, Cook, Keane)
- “Card Declined” (XCX, Cook, Keane)
- “Camera” (XCX, Cook)
- “2007” (XCX, Cook, Keane)
- “I’m Afraid” (XCX, Cook)
- “Yeah” (XCX, Cook, Keane)
- “Wink Wink” (XCX, Cook, Keane)
- “Persona” (XCX, Cook, Keane)
- “Magic Metal Montana” (XCX, Cook)
- “No One Lasts Forever” featuring David Cronenberg (XCX, Cook, Keane)
Leave a Reply