Charli xcx - Music, Fashion, Film
Charli xcx’s new album is chaotic, occasionally hilarious, occasionally hollowed out — much like life itself.
"I used to never think about Billboard / But now I've started thinkin' again / Wonderin' 'bout whether I think I deserve commercial success," Charli xcx confessed on “Rewind”, one of the most vulnerable songs from Brat, an album that has already secured its place as a modern pop classic. Ironically, it was the very record containing those lyrics that catapulted her into pop’s highest tier, earning her chart-topping hits and her first Grammy Awards. We could spend hours revisiting the album's undeniable impact on pop culture, but there's a far more interesting question here: what do you do after you've reached the top? Charli seems to have chosen the only answer that makes sense.
Shortly after Brat was released, Charli mentioned that she planned to take a break from music. That hiatus, however, proved remarkably short-lived. Since then, she's already delivered three releases, with Music, Fashion, Film serving as the first proper studio album among them. When “Rock Music”, the album's lead single, arrived in early May, the pop community split into two very unequal camps. Most listeners assumed Charli was pulling an elaborate prank. Across a track that barely lasts two minutes, she compares kissing your friends to incest, encourages people to stage-dive away from the crowd, and relentlessly drills the hook "ro-o-o-o-ock music" into your brain. Many would call it a disaster. I'd call it camp.
As the rollout unfolded, it became increasingly obvious that Music, Fashion, Film was shaping up to be an anti-Brat. Acid green gave way to stark black-and-white imagery. High-profile pop collaborations were replaced by partnerships with creative veterans like John Cale, Marc Jacobs, and Martin Scorsese. Instead of chaotic, overcrowded events, Charli opted for intimate fan gatherings aptly titled Conversations. Although she insists the record isn't actually a rock album, it hardly fits neatly into contemporary pop either. If Brat felt like an all-night party fuelled by excess, Music, Fashion, Film plays like meeting close friends at a dimly lit bar over beers and cigarettes.
From the opening moments, the album radiates exhaustion and emotional emptiness. "The nerve damage is real / But it's the only way to feel something / Hurt yourself," she sings with startling cheerfulness on “Rock Music”, moments before the explosive closing chorus crashes in. Charli's trademark honesty reaches another level throughout the record. On the subdued, reflective “SS26”, she revisits the commercial anxieties that have haunted her career from the beginning: "Can't hide the fact I'd rather take the easy road". Elsewhere, the irresistibly catchy “2007” looks back playfully at the year her musical journey first began.
Listening to Music, Fashion, Film, it's easy to believe Charli has never been more self-assured. You almost get the impression that if someone shouted for a song from Sucker or even Brat during this tour, she'd simply laugh it off. Yet this may also be the most emotionally exposed album she's ever made. On the suffocating “Card Declined”, she seems to search for escape through compulsive shopping. Buying clothes becomes an attempt to silence internal pain, but no bank can process a payment for a new life. Just as you settle into the song's weary melancholy, the track violently shifts gears before seamlessly morphing into a distorted version of "I keep thinking 'bout you every single day and night", one of the B-sides Charli uploaded to her second Instagram account.
Charli has never been afraid of exposing her insecurities. We've heard it before on “Rewind”, “Sympathy is a knife”, and “Girl, so confusing”. Here, that self-examination continues on “I'm Afraid”, an ode to married life shaped as much by doubt as by devotion. She questions whether she's truly good enough to be someone's partner, agrees with every harsh criticism ever directed at her, only to conclude: "All this pain makes me believe / I'm a better artist now / An excuse I tell myself / To act selfishly". As those words land, her voice is overwhelmed by blaring sirens, turning anxiety itself into part of the chorus. Acceptance eventually arrives on “Wink Wink”, arguably the album's biggest hit. This exhilarating alt-rock banger jolts the listener with a confession about having sex with her father immediately after an innocent line about strawberry ice cream. People change, but not everyone gets it.
For all its emotional heaviness, Music, Fashion, Film still finds room for tenderness. “Magic Metal Montana” serves as a heartfelt letter to longtime friend and collaborator A. G. Cook, with Charli acknowledging that their friendship survives despite fundamentally different interests. Sometimes opposites really do attract. It's impossible not to think back to “So I”, especially the devastating line "I'd cry if you died." On paper, it sounds almost disarmingly simple, but after the tragic death of Charli's close friend and producer SOPHIE, those words carry extraordinary weight. Then there's the grunge-infused “Yeah”, proving Charli can completely captivate you with little more than two repeated lines. On the addictive “Persona”, she steps outside herself, mocking public assumptions about her image: "Don't fucking choke on your ego when you see me coming / I know you're performing, I know that you're hurting." It's both a taunt and an act of self-awareness directed at everyone trying to define who Charli xcx is supposed to be.
Ultimately, the closing track “No One Lasts Forever” reveals what Brat's success has really given her. She's no longer afraid of taking risks, or of allowing herself to feel both terrible and euphoric. She credits a chance conversation with a Parisian woman she met at a party for helping her arrive at that realization. The album's sole surprise guest, legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg, delivers a spoken-word reflection on the importance of art after surviving a near-death experience. In that moment, he admits he wasn't thinking about art at all — a striking contrast to Charli's earlier B-side, “If You Take Away The Music Then What Has She Got”, where she argues that creativity is inseparable from her very sense of self.
That contrast inevitably brings “Camera” to mind, one of the best songs of her career, where she almost sounds as though she's saying goodbye to the listener before stepping into an entirely new chapter. Following Brat, Charli openly spoke about wanting to pursue filmmaking, and she's already appeared in several films. "I'm always craving an experience that feels dangerous / And maybe this is it, maybe it's what I need / 'Cause it's the only way to feel like I'm not actually me." Here, her songwriting at its sharpest, feeling less like an ending than a perfectly placed full stop before the next sentence begins.
On the stunning B-side “Playboy Bunny”, Charli sang: "All my music sounds the same / Sometimes I wish I didn't make it / So I could be a listener watching for the first time." The song never made the final tracklist of Music, Fashion, Film, yet it perfectly captures the mindset driving this record. Here is an artist willing to fail, prepared to embrace uncertainty, and eager to step into unfamiliar territory knowing full well the outcome might not be successful. That mindset explains not only Charli herself, but perhaps something about the state of the world in 2026. Music, Fashion, Film is chaotic, abrasive, and not always uplifting — much like life itself. But that's precisely where its greatest strength lies. It forces you to reflect, to question, and to sit with uncomfortable thoughts. And if art has a purpose, surely that's it. There's no telling what comes next or where humanity is headed. But as Charli XCX herself puts it: "Nothing's gonna save us, not music, fashion or film".
8.4/10
