Culture Crash: Charlie XCX: From Pop Princess To Gothic Queen

In the summer and fall of 2024, Brat was everywhere. Charli xcx’s sixth studio album grabbed the zeitgeist with its lime green color palette, it’s rave-influenced dance sound, and Charli’s no-cares attitude. It spawned a TikTok dance, a second album full of remixes, and months of hand-wringing all across the news landscape as Brat became a cultural movement.

This year, Charli is officially moving on from the most explosive era of her career. First came The Moment, a theatrically released mockumentary about the pressures of growing her brand while still trying to remain true to herself as an artist. The Moment is a funny satire full of pop music in-jokes, and it seems to be the final installment in the world of Brat.

Because two weeks after The Moment hit theaters, Charli XCX released her next album, titled Wuthering Heights, it’s a soundtrack for the new film adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights. Charli’s soundtrack mixes her specific brand of synth pop with orchestral instrumentation and the dark, gothic romance of Emily Bronte’s famous novel.

There’s shimmery hyperpop on the song “Dying For You,” darkly obsessive lyrics and desperate intensity on songs like “Seeing Things” and “Altars,” as well as a Nine Inch Nails-like industrial horror feeling on the album’s opener “House featuring John Cale.”

With Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX has made an album that breaks away from the specific sounds and themes of Brat, but is still of a piece with Charli’s discography. In adopting new perspectives and infusing her songs with the literary longing of Emily Bronte’s characters, Charli XCX has managed to strike gold once again.

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