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“Hearst Magazines and AOL may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”<\/em><\/p>\n THE RUNDOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n Charli XCX released a brand new single, \u201cRock Music,\u201d which gives fans the first true look at her eighth album.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n The pop star shared a music video along with the single on May 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n She revealed that her next album will explore her relationship with creating art.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Charli XCX has officially entered her next era. Hours after announcing the release of new material<\/a>\u2014just months after dropping her Wuthering Heights<\/em> soundtrack album\u2014the \u201cVon Dutch\u201d singer returned on May 8 with a brand new single titled \u201cRock Music.\u201d<\/p>\n The song does lean into a grungier sound with electric guitars and head-banging beats, and Charli seems to make a pivot from Brat<\/em> in the chorus: \u201cI think the dance floor is dead \/ So now we\u2019re making ro-oh-oh-oh-ck music.\u201d<\/p>\n But the track still carries Charli\u2019s pop sensibilities, with electronic influences (it was produced by A.G. Cook after all) and lyrics oozing with attitude. The first verse begins: \u201cMe and my friends, we go out \/ We take pictures and make stuff together \/ And sometimes we cry \/ We kiss each other, real incestuous vibes \/ (I knew you\u2019d like that).\u201d Even the glitch as she sings the words \u201crock music\u201d feels dance-inspired, which could be an intentional wink.<\/p>\n The black-and-white video (directed by Aidan Zamiri, the filmmaker behind The Moment<\/em>) sees the pop star in a hotel room with her husband George Daniel, stripping in the street, and smoking amid literal mountains of cigarettes.<\/p>\n \u201cRock Music\u201d arrived two weeks after Charli\u2019s April 16 interview with British Vogue<\/em><\/a>, in which she said, \u201cI think the dance floor is dead\u2026so now we\u2019re making rock music.\u201d She added, \u201cFor me, it\u2019s fun to flip the form. We know there\u2019s gonna be people who are bothered by it, but that\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n The quote led to heated discourse online from some fans and artists within the music industry\u2014in response, Charli made a series of tweets that explained her goal wasn\u2019t to make a true rock album.<\/p>\n \u201cA video of me making a song called rock music that is not actually rock music which is funny because I never said I was making a rock album. love you xx,\u201d she captioned a tweet of her along with her friends and producer A.G. Cook working on music.<\/p>\n She followed up the tweet with another one that read, \u201cwoke up and had an idea for a song that made me lol. told A. G. and finn and they thought it was cute too. so we made \u2018rock music.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n