Charli XCX has unveiled a striking new single titled ‘Wall Of Sound’. You can hear it below.
Read More: Charli XCX – ‘Brat’ review: pop pioneer fully embraces the dancefloor
The song is the latest preview from Charli’s forthcoming album, created specifically for Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights. The full project is due out on Friday February 13 and is currently available to pre order.
Until now, listeners have been given a taste of the album through ‘House’, which featured a collaboration with The Velvet Underground’s John Cale and leaned into an unsettling atmosphere, alongside the brooding gothic cut ‘Chains Of Love’.
With ‘Wall Of Sound’, Charli delivers a richly cinematic piece that leans heavily into mood and tension, opening with sweeping orchestral elements and raw, exposed vocals.
“Unbelievable tension/ Wall of sound/ No real reason and I can’t escape it,” she sings, her voice cutting through a chilling swirl of violins. Take a listen below.
The new screen version of Wuthering Heights is scheduled to arrive next month on February 13 and features Margot Robbie in the role of Catherine Earnshaw, with Jacob Elordi portraying Heathcliff.
These latest tracks follow Charli’s recent comments about feeling creatively drawn toward film rather than music, after describing herself as feeling “stuck, empty and barren” in the aftermath of her breakthrough album ‘Brat‘.
“[By the end of ‘Brat’] I sort of felt like I was squeezing blood from a stone, trying to get every last drop of liquid life out of an idea I had already been sat with for years prior,” she shared. “I still love [Brat], don’t get me wrong but I was itching to move on and was simultaneously frustrated that I was so depleted that I couldn’t.”
Back in May, she suggested that her next album outside of the Wuthering Heights project would move in a completely new direction, joking: “You can never really do the same thing twice and my next record will probably be a flop, which I’m down for to be honest.”
Then in February, her producers A.G. Cook, Finn Keane and George Daniel, who is also her husband, explained that the follow up was shaping up as something deliberately opposed to ‘Brat’, with Keane adding: “Some of the conversations we’re having and music we’ve been playing around with the last couple of months have been completely the opposite.”
More recently, Charli revealed that she has been “exploring a lot of stuff with strings” as part of the album’s sound.
Elsewhere, Charli’s upcoming mockumentary The Moment is due to arrive in UK cinemas on February 20.
The film will be released through A24 and focuses on the overwhelming reaction to her 2024 album ‘Brat’ and the tour that followed. Directed by Aidan Zamiri, it blends real footage from the live shows with scripted backstage moments.
Alongside Charli, the cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Rachel Sennott, Hailey Benton Gates, Jamie Demetriou, Kate Berlant and Rosanna Arquette, with a cameo appearance from Kylie Jenner.
Sharleen Spiteri joined BBC Radio 2’s The Sara Cox Breakfast Show ahead of Texas taking the stage to launch the main live music programme at Radio 2 in the Park in Stirling.
Checking in from rehearsals, the Texas frontwoman spoke about getting ready for the band’s opening performance at City Park. Radio 2’s annual flagship festival takes place there from 11 to 13 September 2026. "I’m match fit because I’ve had a couple of days’ rehearsals," Spiteri said. "We’re kicking the whole weekend off, which we’re very much looking forward to, so everybody’s got to get ready to party."
Before the live acts take over, Friday’s DJ Pre-Party gets the weekend started with Radio 2 favourites Sara Cox, DJ Spoony, Gary Davies, Michelle Visage, and Rylan behind the decks.
Jo Whiley helped set the mood with a special programme from Stirling’s Tolbooth venue. Working with BBC Introducing Scotland, the broadcast put the spotlight on Scotland’s emerging music scene through performances and conversations with Fright Years, Alice Faye, and James Emmanuel.
Fright Years, a four member band from Edinburgh, played "Never Been Wrong" and offered their take on Simple Minds’ "Waterfront." Glasgow singer and songwriter Alice Faye, the BBC Introducing in Scotland 2026 winner, paired "Some Brief Encounter" with a rendition of Lulu’s arrangement of "I Started a Joke." James Emmanuel, who was born in Nigeria and now lives in Edinburgh, sang "Brothers & Sisters" before taking on Chaka Khan’s "I’m Every Woman."
"We’re all about celebrating BBC Introducing and all the music that’s come out of Scotland," Whiley told listeners. "It's about celebrating the local music scene and the incredibly important work that BBC Introducing does to support independent, up-and-coming artists."
Joining the conversation were Stephanie Cheape, presenter of BBC Introducing in Scotland, Tara McLoughlin, venue manager for Stirling Council, and student radio presenters representing the University of Stirling’s Air3 Radio.
Listeners can catch the complete interviews and live performances from the weekend’s programmes on BBC Sounds.
