{"id":646159,"date":"2026-06-18T22:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646159\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T22:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:50:15","slug":"charli-xcx-on-if-music-fashion-film-is-really-a-rock-album-and-if-the-dancefloor-is-really-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646159\/","title":{"rendered":"Charli XCX on if ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ is really a “rock” album, and if the dancefloor is really “dead”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charli XCX<\/a> has insisted that her new album \u2018Music, Fashion, Film<\/a>\u2019 is not a \u201crock album\u201d.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Charli XCX \u2013 \u2018Wuthering Heights\u2019 review: delicious gothic pop for a winter of yearning<\/a><\/p>\n

Charli\u2019s team previously confirmed that she was finishing work on her new album<\/a>, and shortly afterwards the artist told\u00a0British Vogue\u00a0some of the lyrics to \u2018Rock Music\u2019\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 prompting speculation that the album would take a heavier direction. But Charli later clarified<\/a>\u00a0that she \u201cnever said\u201d she was making a rock album.<\/p>\n

Before then, the singer made it clear that she was\u00a0wanting to distance herself from the sound of \u2018Brat<\/a>\u2019, and later\u00a0added that she found it interesting to see the polarised reaction to the lead single.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, she has insisted again in a new interview with Rolling Stone<\/a> that her forthcoming record, which is due to land on July 24, is not a rock LP.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Music, Fashion, Film\u2019 artwork. CREDIT: Aidan Zamiri<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I know that there\u2019s been a lot of conversation around me making a rock album, which is something that I never said. But to be honest, I\u2019ve never thought about genre in a binary way. I find that to be a very old-school notion. I don\u2019t even know what the genre is. It\u2019s just me and [her collaborators] A. G. Cook<\/a> and Finn Keane, doing our thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Charli also went on to say that the dancefloor is far from \u201cdead\u201d despite her lyrics on recent single \u2018Rock Music\u2019 stating: \u201cI think the dancefloor is dead, so now we\u2019re making rock music.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lyric even prompted Madonna<\/a>, who is\u00a0currently gearing up to release the long-anticipated sequel<\/a> to 2005\u2019s \u2019Confessions On A Dance Floor\u2019 with \u2018Confessions II\u2019, to respond<\/a>: \u201cIf your Dance floor feels dead, Maybe you\u2019re playing the wrong music\u201d.<\/p>\n

Charli clarified: \u201cThat lyric is very much about my relationship with \u2018Brat\u2019, and my personal experience with that album. My husband [The 1975<\/a>\u2018s George Daniel<\/a>] runs a dance-music label. There\u2019s been such a wealth of incredible dance\/electronic-adjacent records that have been coming out recently, whether it\u2019s Slayyyter<\/a> or Underscores<\/a> or PinkPantheress<\/a>. Dance music is in an incredible place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, she spoke about her album cover<\/a> which features musician and composer\u00a0John Cale<\/a>, fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and legendary director Martin Scorsese<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"CharliCharli XCX live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Derek Bremner for NME<\/p>\n

Charli said there\u2019d been \u201ca lot of discussion\u201d around who should\u2019ve ended up on the final cover, but she ultimately landed on figures who she had \u201cpersonal connections with\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously\u00a0I\u2019ve spoken so much about the Velvet Underground<\/a>, I\u2019ve\u00a0collaborated with John [on the\u00a0Wuthering Heights\u00a0soundtrack<\/a>], I\u2019ve been a fan of John\u2019s solo work, his work with the\u00a0Velvets<\/a>,\u201d she shared, also calling Cale \u201cprolific\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Charli added: \u201cTo be honest, when I make music, I\u2019m thinking less about other music as a reference point. I actually shut myself off, and we just escape into our own world. I\u2019ve spoken at length about loving Lou Reed<\/a> and John Cale and the Velvet Underground. But would I say that the record sounds like any of that? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, two songs have been shared from the forthcoming album, the gritty, guitar led lead single \u2018Rock Music<\/a>\u2019, and the edgy \u2018SS26<\/a>\u2019. You can pre-order it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She will return to the stage to make her headline debut at Reading & Leeds<\/a> in August, topping the festival bill alongside Fontaines D.C.<\/a>, Raye<\/a>, Florence + The Machine<\/a>, Dave<\/a> and Chase & Status<\/a>. Visit here<\/a> for tickets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charli XCX has insisted that her new album \u2018Music, Fashion, Film\u2019 is not a \u201crock album\u201d. READ MORE:\u00a0Charli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[29408,96,128,1581,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-electronic","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pop","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}