In a new interview with British Vogue, Charli XCX has revealed that her upcoming 8th album is built on and inspired by rock music.
In the interview, Charli invites journalist Laura Snapes into a studio in West London to play songs from what is aptly dubbed ‘xcx8’ at the moment. The first song that is played begins with what is described as exhibiting “Heavily processed guitars” before Charli herself states,“I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.” A second song is described as “queasy feedback warps beneath a dead-eyed incantation about going shopping for a new personality and falling at the first hurdle”.
It’s not the first time Charli has dabbled in guitar music, with her 2014 album ‘Sucker’ bringing plenty of Britpop and rebellious punk influences to counter her typically bubblegum pop approach.
But in following up an album that was as much of a cultural movement as 2024’s ‘Brat’ with a sound that is completely the opposite is obviously going to turn heads.
For Charli, it appears as though she didn’t really have any other choice, as she explains:
“If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad, but what’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on that could be”.
“For me, it’s fun to flip the form. We know there’s gonna be people who are bothered by it, but that’s fine.”
Whilst her producer AG Cook had this to say about the process and watching Charli create the record with such an intent:
“It’s not just this flex of, ‘Oh, I did this other album.’ She’s really responding to a feeling that a lot of people have in 2026 of there being so much, almost too much. What do you hold onto? I’m inspired by seeing how she’s so ready to do that rather than take it easy.”
The album is currently unfinished, but the direction that it is heading is certainly VERY interesting. Keep those eyes peeled for more.
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