Charli xcx has spent the last two years staring down one of the most unenviable tasks a pop star can face: following up a universally acclaimed, commercially successful blockbuster album. Her strategy for moving on from the phenomenon that was 2024’s Brat was to get as much of a moment out of the album and its accompanying tour as she possibly could, then to clear the decks a little with a full-length soundtrack to a hit film (Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation) earlier this year, and then to make a hard turn for her next proper LP: the now-released Music, Fashion, Film.
So is the new set the pivot to rock music seemingly teased by some of her comments leading up to the album, as well as the sound of its lead single (and opening track), literally titled “Rock Music”? As one probably could have expected with Charli xcx, the answer is both yes and no.
The 11 new songs on Music, Fashion, Film are certainly more guitar-forward and less beat-heavy than past Charli sets — Brat in particular — but if you were expecting her to go full ’00s New York indie rock, well, there’s a Strokes album out this week for that. This album has its purely grungy moments, but it still carries the energy, the sonic meticulousness and the attitude of dance and pop as much as rock, and its overall sound will certainly be extremely recognizable to anyone who’s followed the career and work of Charlotte Aitchison up until this point.
Regardless of genre designation — which has never seemed overly important to Charli xcx in the first place — Music, Fashion, Film is another fascinating, addictive, singular catalog entry in a body of work that is quickly becoming one of the 21st century’s most formidable. Here’s how we rank the 11 tracks found on Charli’s latest, from worst to first.
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