Charli XCX’s latest album, Music, Fashion, Film, has divided critics following its release on Friday, with reviewers split over the pop star’s sharp left turn after the era-defining success of Brat.
The 11-track, 30-minute record marks the singer’s seventh studio album and features songs including Card Declined, Camera, 2007, I’m Afraid, Yeah, Persona and Magic Metal Montana.
Named after what Charli describes as her three greatest creative passions, the album’s artwork features filmmaker Martin Scorsese, fashion designer Marc Jacobs and musician John Cale.
Speaking to fans in New York earlier this month, the singer said: “This album is, in a way, all about how lucky I feel to be able to do what I do.”
Charli XCX performing on The Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival (PA Wire)
The album’s release has prompted sharply contrasting reviews.
The Telegraph was less than impressed, awarding the album two stars, with critic Poppie Platt writing: “The Brat star’s bid for artistic reinvention is smothered by grating production and empty, self-conscious songs.”
Writing for The Independent, Roisin O’Connor awarded the record three stars, describing it as “the kind of gin-infused, late-night philosophical ramblings sent drifting out of a Paris apartment window”. She concluded that “in the cold light of day, most of the ideas are rather half-baked.”
Others were far more enthusiastic.
The Guardian‘s Laura Snapes handed the album a five-star review, calling it a “slippery search into selfhood that hits just as hard as Brat”.
Rolling Stone‘s Caryn Ganz also praised the record, awarding four stars and describing it as “a brilliant, catchy, often very funny look at the machinery of fame”.
Equally fans were divided by the release.
One penned: “charli xcx has done it again, this album BANGS and my expectations were low after the singles”.
While another commented: “no shade but wtf is charli xcx new album” and third added: “The final two minutes of the new Charli XCX album are pretty annoying – rest of the album is decent though”.
Another remarked: “everyones tripping bro this new charli xcx album so fire”.
Music, Fashion, Film’s release arrives after an extraordinary two years for the singer.
Brat became one of pop’s defining records, spawning viral hits including 360, Apple and Guess, inspiring a cultural movement and even being embraced by Kamala Harris’s 2024 US presidential campaign. Collins Dictionary also updated its definition of “brat” to reflect the confident, independent attitude associated with the album.
Following a year-long world tour, Charli married The 1975 drummer George Daniel, took on a string of acting roles and wrote music for Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Rather than taking a break, she found herself pulled back into the studio.
“Out of the blue, inspiration struck me,” she said. “I suddenly felt like I had something to say, so I ran with it.”
She has been equally clear that Music, Fashion, Film was never intended to be Brat’s successor in sound.
“If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad,” she told Vogue.
In a newsletter to fans, she added: “To be boring is to die right there on the spot.”
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