Charli XCX has insisted that her new album ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ is not a “rock album”.
Charli’s team previously confirmed that she was finishing work on her new album, and shortly afterwards the artist told British Vogue some of the lyrics to ‘Rock Music’ – prompting speculation that the album would take a heavier direction. But Charli later clarified that she “never said” she was making a rock album.
Before then, the singer made it clear that she was wanting to distance herself from the sound of ‘Brat’, and later added that she found it interesting to see the polarised reaction to the lead single.
Now, she has insisted again in a new interview with Rolling Stone that her forthcoming record, which is due to land on July 24, is not a rock LP.
“Obviously, I know that there’s been a lot of conversation around me making a rock album, which is something that I never said. But to be honest, I’ve never thought about genre in a binary way. I find that to be a very old-school notion. I don’t even know what the genre is. It’s just me and [her collaborators] A. G. Cook and Finn Keane, doing our thing,” she said.
Charli also went on to say that the dancefloor is far from “dead” despite her lyrics on recent single ‘Rock Music’ stating: “I think the dancefloor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.”
The lyric even prompted Madonna, who is currently gearing up to release the long-anticipated sequel to 2005’s ’Confessions On A Dance Floor’ with ‘Confessions II’, to respond: “If your Dance floor feels dead, Maybe you’re playing the wrong music”.
Charli clarified: “That lyric is very much about my relationship with ‘Brat’, and my personal experience with that album. My husband [The 1975‘s George Daniel] runs a dance-music label. There’s been such a wealth of incredible dance/electronic-adjacent records that have been coming out recently, whether it’s Slayyyter or Underscores or PinkPantheress. Dance music is in an incredible place.”
Earlier this month, she spoke about her album cover which features musician and composer John Cale, fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and legendary director Martin Scorsese.
Charli said there’d been “a lot of discussion” around who should’ve ended up on the final cover, but she ultimately landed on figures who she had “personal connections with”.
“Obviously I’ve spoken so much about the Velvet Underground, I’ve collaborated with John [on the Wuthering Heights soundtrack], I’ve been a fan of John’s solo work, his work with the Velvets,” she shared, also calling Cale “prolific”.
Despite that, now she has said that despite her love for The Velvet Underground, she would not be using them as a musical reference point on the new record.
Charli added: “To be honest, when I make music, I’m thinking less about other music as a reference point. I actually shut myself off, and we just escape into our own world. I’ve spoken at length about loving Lou Reed and John Cale and the Velvet Underground. But would I say that the record sounds like any of that? No.”
So far, two songs have been shared from the forthcoming album, the gritty, guitar led lead single ‘Rock Music’, and the edgy ‘SS26’. You can pre-order it here.
She will return to the stage to make her headline debut at Reading & Leeds in August, topping the festival bill alongside Fontaines D.C., Raye, Florence + The Machine, Dave and Chase & Status. Visit here for tickets.