Charli XCX has a whole lot of cinematic projects in the works right now. She’s in the cast of no fewer than seven upcoming movies, and she’s also doing music for a big one that’s coming out early next year. Charli contributed multiple tracks to the soundtrack of the new Wuthering Heights adaptation from Emerald Fennell, director of Saltburn and Promising Young Woman. Today, she shares the first of those songs, and it’s a collaboration with the Velvet Underground legend John Cale.

For years, Charli XCX has been talking about how much she loves the Velvet Underground. On Twitter last week, Charli wrote about having the honor of working with John Cale and how the song came to be. Here’s what she said:

I got a call from Emerald Fennell last Christmas asking whether I would consider working on a song for her adaptation of Wuthering Heights. I read the script and immediately felt inspired so Finn Keane and I began working on not just one but many songs that we felt connected to the world she was creating. After being so in the depths of my previous album I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite. When I think of Wuthering Heights I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.

A few years ago I watched Todd Haynes’ documentary about The Velvet Underground. As many of you know I’m a huge fan of the band and was really taken by the documentary. One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of The Velvet Underground. That any song had to be both “elegant and brutal”. I got really stuck on that phrase. I wrote it down in my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.

When working on music for this film, “elegant and brutal” was a phrase I kept coming back to. One day whilst on tour in Austin, Finn and I went to the studio and wrote the bones for a song that would eventually become “House.” When the summer ended I was still ruminating on John’s words. So I decided to reach out to him to get his opinion on the songs that his phrase had so deeply inspired, but also to see whether he might want to collaborate on any.

We got connected, we spoke on the phone and wow… that voice, so elegant, so brutal. I sent him some songs and we started talking specifically about “House.” We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made me cry.

I feel so lucky to have been able to work with John on this song. I’ve been so excited to share it with you all, sitting quietly in anticipation. And on Monday, it’s yours.

And now it’s ours! “House” starts out stark and ominous, with raspy narration from John Cale. Eventually, it builds to crashing, dramatic guitars and to Charli intoning words alongside Cale. This is not the fun side of Charli XCX. Instead, it’s a full-on mood-piece. Both Charli and Cale appear in the Mitch Ryan-directed “House” video. Watch it below.

Over the years, Charli XCX’s Velvet Underground has been well-documented.

Just last week, Charli XCX went on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop podcast. When Paltrow asked her if she’d ever make music that’s “super stripped back,” Charli said, “I’m a really big Lou Reed fan; he’s kind of my guy.” As for her next project, Charli says, “I’m exploring a lot of stuff with strings at the moment, which I’m really enjoying, and I haven’t really worked in that space before.”

This is also a great place to note that John Cale produced Patti Smith’s Horses, which turns 50 today. What a career! Wuthering Heights arrives in theaters 2/13. Check out our We’ve Got a File On You interview with John Cale here.

Henry Redcliffe