Music, Fashion, Film

About

“We’re so inspired/Basically all the time,” Charli xcx declares on <b>“Rock Music,”</b> the opening track of <i>Music, Fashion, Film</i>. The song is laced with irony, but that lyric feels rooted in truth and sums up why the artist born Charlotte Aitchison made <i>Music, Fashion, Film</i>. Because—as much as she wanted to slow down after the biggest moment of her career, 2024’s <i>BRAT</i>, which provided the mood (and color scheme) for an entire summer—she just couldn’t stop. “I was like, ‘I really gotta take a break,’” Charli tells Apple Music. “But when inspiration strike, I feel like you would be naive not to jump at it. I feel so lucky to get the inspiration that I don’t ever feel like I can let it slip past. This came randomly, I was not expecting it, but I kind of went with it, and I’m happy that I did.” <i>Music, Fashion, Film</i> was made mostly in Paris at the end of 2025 with her regular collaborators Finn Keane and A. G. Cook. And it finds Charli swapping out the neon colors and hot-mess fun of <i>BRAT</i> for a far more insular sound that leans towards guitars and lyricism that’s—as ever—both knowing and honest. “I can only ever do what I feel is right and truthful to me as an artist,” she say. “But I will say that my pattern is that my work often works in pendulum swing. Inherently, my albums are reacting against each other in some sort of a way.” You wonder, too, if this is an album Charli <i>needed</i> to make, its distinctly un-<i>BRAT</i> sound a means of breaking free of any expectations people might have had of her. And, perhap, this was also what she had to do to process her superstar moment—the intensity of which she has said left her feeling exhausted and creatively empty—and make peace with how long that kind of cultural relevancy can last anyway. There’s that line in <b>“Rock Music”</b> about the dance floor being dead, which feels like Charli’s way of closing the <i>BRAT</i> chapter for herself, while on the powerful David Cronenberg-featuring album closer, <b>“No One Lasts Forever,”</b> she considers fame, perceptions of her, the ephemerality of thing, and the mortality of artist. Don’t worry, though: This being Charli xcx, there are also plenty of less deep moment, including <b>“2007”</b> and <b>“Wink Wink,”</b> which recalls French band The Teenagers’ indie-sleaze era track “Homecoming.” And yet, there is still a despondence that runs through this album. “We’re walking on a runway that goes straight to Hell,” she sings on <b>“SS26.”</b> “Nothing’s gonna save u, not music, fashion or film.” And on the crunchy <b>“Card Declined,”</b> she takes herself shopping to buy everything from a handbag to “a smile,” “a personality,” and “a whole backstory” in a sullen take on consumerism that also sounds like a wish for a blank slate. Despite this clearly being an intentional shift away from <i>BRAT</i>, the lyrical intimacy which made that album what it was remains here. See <b>“Magic Metal Montana,”</b> about finding a best musical friend in A. G. Cook and on which she claims she’d be “nothing” without him, or <b>“I’m Afraid,”</b> where she frets about being “nothing” without her husband as she airs insecurities about herself. “I’m a wife, I’m a kid/I’m destroyed, I’m a bitch/I’m too drunk, I can’t sleep/I can’t feel, I’m afraid,” Charli almost chants over haunting production before adding, “I’m afraid I’m nothing without him/What if I ruin it?” Elsewhere, on <b>“Camera,”</b> she luxuriates in the revitalizing feeling of being in front of the camera (in 2026, she starred in <i>The Moment</i>, a mockumentary based on her own idea) even if she also wonder, “Do I wanna make music? Am I being fucking stupid/If I try to be a girl on the screen when I’m turning 34?” And then there’s <b>“Persona,”</b> which, post-“Girl, so confusing,” will surely provoke plenty of internet speculation about its subject. “Don’t fucking choke on your ego when you see me coming,” sings Charli. “You call me your best friend to keep me at arm’s length.” .

via Apple Music

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