Charli XCX shares ‘Playboy Bunny’, the punky B-side to new single ‘SS26’

Charli XCX has shared another B-side from her new album era in the form of the punky ‘Playboy Bunny’ – check it out below.

The song is the “flip side” to her latest single, the gritty, sassy ‘SS26’, which she released on Thursday (May 21). In keeping with her new policy of returning to the traditional pre-streaming system of A-sides and B-sides, now she has shared its companion piece, ‘Playboy Bunny’.

Like the previous single ‘Rock Music’ and its B-side ‘I Keep On Thinking Bout You Every Single Day And Night’, the assumption is that ‘SS26’ will end up on Charli’s upcoming new album, but ‘Playboy Bunny’ will not, instead being exclusive to the vinyl 7” single and via her “b.sides” Instagram account.

Explaining the release strategy in a video on that account, Charli said: “The B-sides are sort of like coupled with some of the songs that are coming out ahead of the album. The reason that they’re paired together, these two songs, are because, in ways, they’re totally opposite from each other, and that is find of the main point of them.”

“It’s sort of a mirror…there are specifically sonic things about it that are extremely opposite to ‘SS26’ and I think that’s what made it a good B-side, a good pair,” she added.

‘Playboy Bunny’ motors along with a pop-punk energy, with serrated, sampled guitars and distorted vocals, and it comes with a video shot in Paris the day after the ‘SS26’ video was filmed. “Was honestly v hungover lol,” Charli has said of the new video shoot. Watch here, along with Charli’s explanation of the B-sides concept:

Like ‘I Keep On Thinking Bout You Every Single Day And Night’, it appears ‘Playboy Bunny’ will not be released onto streaming platforms, but Charli did encourage fans to “rip the audio” from the Instagram account for the previous B-side.

Last month, Charli’s team confirmed that she was finishing work on her new album, and shortly afterwards, in an interview with British Vogue, the lyric “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music” was previewed. It prompted speculation that the album would take a heavier direction, though Charli later clarified, “I never said I was making a rock album.”

‘Rock Music’ then arrived alongside a grungy music video, which saw her enlist collaborators A.G. Cook, Finn Keane (formerly known as Easyfun) and her husband, The 1975‘s George Daniel, as her rock band.

All four new songs have seen Charli depart from the club atmosphere of the 2024 cultural phenomenon that was ‘Brat’, and they follow on from her soundtrack album for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, released in February.

As well as working on that soundtrack, the ‘360’ singer also penned music for the A24 film Mother Mary, starring Anne Hathaway, starred in her own mockumentary The Moment, took on a role in the new romance Erupcja, and locked in a role in fantasy 100 Nights Of Hero.

She also played a comedic version of herself in the TV show Overcompensating, and was recently cast alongside Supergirl star Milly Alcock in a new horror film directed by Takashi Miike.

As for upcoming live dates, this August, she’ll return to the stage to make her headline debut at Reading & Leeds, topping the festival bill alongside Fontaines D.C., Raye, Florence + The Machine, Dave and Chase & Status. Visit here for tickets and more information.