Charli XCX has released her seventh studio album, Music, fashion, moviesthat marks her first full-length follow-up to 2024’s genre-defining Abrupt.
The 11-track album, out now via Atlantic Records, includes previously released singles Rock music, SS26, Blink Blink and Cameraand closes with Nobody lasts foreverwith a monologue from director David Cronenberg.
speaks to Rolling Stone prior to its release, Charli described her instinct to move away from what did Abrupt such a phenomenon rather than trying to replicate it.
“All my albums work in contradictions,” she said.
“They repel each other and that’s the connective tissue. I knew when I made it that I never wanted to make that record again. It’s not creatively rewarding for me to make the same thing twice.”
The album arrives after a characteristically packed 18 months for the singer, who has released a soundtrack album for Wuthering Heightsstarred in the mockumentary The momentand continued to roll out new content and appearances at a steady pace.
In one of the film’s more memorable moments referenced by critics, Kylie Jenner’s fictionalized cameo in The moment tells Charli’s character, “The other people get sick of you, that’s when you have to go even harder,” a line Charli’s recent string of releases seem to follow, whether they read as sincere or ironic.
The album’s cover features three figures chosen to represent its title, each drawn from a different creative field: musician John Cale, fashion designer Marc Jacobs and director Martin Scorsese, photographed together in a kitchen.
Speaking about being approached for the shoot, Cale described the invitation as characteristically spontaneous: “She said she had an idea to drive past me. There was talk of a video, an ode to an imprint of time and place. Next thing I was on a flight.”
Music, fashion, movies is Charli’s fourth full-length release of any kind in just over two years.
