Charli XCX's latest release, the soundtrack to Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Wuthering Heights, marks a significant departure from her previous work. As noted by The Guardian, her 2024 album Brat was a era-defining release, with its title even being added to the Collins English Dictionary as an adjective. However, Charli XCX has since declared that era over, and this new project seems to be a deliberate attempt to move on and explore new sounds.
The first single from the soundtrack, House, featuring John Cale, was a strong indication of this new direction. With its dark, gothic sound and influences from Nine Inch Nails, it bears little resemblance to the music on Brat. As Charli XCX herself noted, the doomed romance of Catherine and Heathcliff plays out "without a cigarette or a pair of sunglasses in sight", a clear nod to her previous persona and style.
The rest of the soundtrack isn't as dramatic a departure, but it still showcases a bold new direction for Charli XCX. The musical aesthetic, with its ominous drones, strings, and synths, creates a sense of friction and tension, as seen in songs like Wall of Sound and Eyes of the World, a standout collaboration with American singer Sky Ferreira. The strings dominate the sound, often sounding jagged and disruptive, as on Dying for You, which marries the dynamics of a rave breakdown to atonal strings.
Experimental Soundscapes
Despite the experimental nature of the soundtrack, it doesn't feel like a radical outlier in Charli XCX's discography. The songwriting is uniformly fantastic, with a narrative arc that doesn't require a working knowledge of the Wuthering Heights plot. The songs can be read as documenting a toxic-sounding, BDSM-y relationship, with lyrics like "push my face into the stone … put the rope between my teeth … please rub the salt in my wounds" on Out of Myself.
The confidence and self-assurance that defined Brat are still present in Wuthering Heights. As Charli XCX wrote in a Substack post, "My name's on the cover, but is it a Charli XCX album? I don't know, nor do I care to find out." The result is an album that feels substantially more than a side-hustle or a footnote, but a deliberate and bold statement from an artist pushing the boundaries of what she does.
With Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX has created a soundtrack that not only accompanies the film but also stands on its own as a cohesive and experimental album. As she continues to evolve and explore new sounds, it will be exciting to see where this new direction takes her. The fact that her existing fanbase has already reacted positively to the new sound, with House being streamed 10m times and meme-ed extensively, is a testament to her ability to push boundaries while still maintaining her pop sensibilities.
