Credit: Aidan Zamiri
Charli XCX has explained the thought process behind her much-discussed new album cover for her second full length of 2026, Music, Fashion, Film, a photograph featuring John Cale, Marc Jacobs, and Martin Scorsese shot by Aidan Zamiri.
The pop star made the announcement on June 1st, sharing a head-turning photo on her social media where Cale, Jacobs, and Scorsese represent each of the mediums in the album title.
After hosting a recent In Conversation event between Charli and her husband and 1975 musician George Daniel in London, music journalist Shaad D’Souza shared a new interview he had with the hitmaker via social media pertaining to the divisive creative direction.
The Essex popstar explained to D’Souza that the cover was shot in April in New York, which was “such a special day”, shared with “all of my team, who are all of my best friends”, including her The Moment collaborator, Zamiri.
The ‘Apple’ singer gushed that the creative collaboration left her “shook”, adding, “I never really have felt genuinely shook before, I think. And once we finished that shoot, me and Aiden were just… It was like this out-of-body experience, and I turned to him, and I was like, ‘I think this is what shook means’.”
She continued, “Just to have these three legends in this room being willing to come together for this album cover […] for them to trust me, it was just really cool.”
She deemed the trio “very impactful people in my life,” adding that it felt “quite magical” to see them in a room together.
The performer added that the “fun thing about the cover and the title is that everybody has their own opinions on who their trifecta of those people are,” and, as such, it’s “fun seeing everybody else’s interpretations of that.”
Drilling into specifics, she revealed that she chose the Velvet Underground star because “I’m just so impressed by how prolific he is.” She also highlighted his “desire to work with artists from a completely different generation, and be willing to play in their worlds like he did with me.” Famously, the pair collaborated on a single for Charli XCX’s soundtrack of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights.
With Jacobs, she explained, “He was the first person who ever gave me a fashion campaign. He was the first person who opened me up to that world in a way,” adding that he has “always been able to communicate youth culture through his work.”
Finally, Charli chose Scorsese as “I’ve been lucky enough to be able to sit down and have a few conversations with him about film,” though she added humourously, “he doesn’t really need an explanation, he’s fucking Martin Scorsese.”
The 33-year-old also revealed that the album title came “really, really early, right on top of making the first idea for the record.” The title, to Charli, represents “something cheeky, in a way,” as well as conjuring up ideas of “ambition and scale and glamour, but at the same time it’s also very, very real and personal, and made by real people.”
When asked about the usual criticism to an artist encroaching in a different medium they aren’t known for, Charli insisted that she would, “never call myself an expert on any topic,” adding that she just has “a hunger to learn”.
Music, Fashion, Film is set to be released on July 24th, 2026.
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source faroutmagazine.co.uk ’
