Charli XCX has opened up about her struggles with her mental health.
The musician is gearing up to release her new album, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’, on July 24.
Ahead of that, she’s appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, where she’s reflected on life in the spotlight. “The discourse is loud, and sometimes that can be very overwhelming,” she told the magazine.
She also opened up about how social media impacts her anxiety. “I have actually been a lot more offline,” she said. “I don’t really look as much anymore. It’s just better for my brain. I know people probably won’t believe me, because I am inherently, at least in the past, a very online artist. But I recently have been really struggling with my mental health to the point where, if I’m being real, I’m in the worst place mentally that I’ve been in my life.”
Later, she revealed she has been talking to Matty Healy of the 1975 about her struggles with her mental health. “He was being … helpful in his way,” she said.
However, she added that she can struggle to come to terms with online discourse about her. “I am finding it tough to … I don’t know,” she says. “I’m finding my emotions are very, very volatile at the minute, I’ll be honest.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Charli clarified that her new album is not a rock album. It comes after 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.
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 has now 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.
For further help and advice on mental health:
- “Am I depressed?” – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
- MITC – A collective of musician industry therapists
- TONIC Rider – Bespoke training and support for music industry professionals
- Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
- Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
- YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
- CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably