Charli XCX Unveils New Song “House” with John Cale: Stream

Charli XCX has revealed “House,” a new song featuring John Cale written for Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights.

In addition to tapping The Velvet Underground’s John Cale for “House,” Charli crafted the song with regular collaborator Finn Keane. Stream the new song below.

In a note shared on social media, Charli discussed helming songs for Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights with Keane: “After being so in the depths of my previous album, I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite,” she wrote. “When I think of Wuthering Heights, I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.”

Charli, being a fan of Todd Haynes’ 2021 documentary on The Velvet Underground and the band’s storied output, recruited Cale for the song; she describes his quote of good music needing to be “elegant and brutal” as a guiding force: “I got really stuck on that phrase. I wrote it down in my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.” She describes calling Cale up to exchange ideas, writing, “That voice, so elegant, so brutal. I sent him some songs, and we started talking specifically about ‘House.’ We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made me cry.”