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.
Taylor Swift believes Nashville has a music scene that stands apart from anywhere else.
The 36 year old singer moved to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was young to chase her dream of becoming a country music star. After being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on Monday (26.10.26), Taylor took the opportunity to recognise the city and the talented writers who have helped shape its music scene.
In her acceptance speech, Taylor said: "I believe you really get to master a craft by doing it again and again. That's exactly what the incredible songwriters in this wonderful town do every day."
Taylor also spoke about what makes Nashville such a special place for musicians.
The award winning singer, who ranks among the best selling music artists of all time, said: "You won't find another music community quite like this one. Trust me, I've checked them all."
Taylor also shared how being part of Nashville's songwriting scene had taught her valuable lessons about life and working with others.
She joked: "I've learned to be flexible when your co writer turns up with a hangover, or when they need to spend ages talking about their divorce before we can even get started on a song."
Taylor previously spoke about how Faith Hill and Shania Twain inspired her decision to move to Nashville.
Speaking to Time magazine, the singer said: "I couldn't get enough of watching TV biographies about Faith Hill and Shania Twain, and I realised they had both moved to Nashville to get their careers started. After that, I kept asking, pleading and begging my parents to take me there.
"When I was 11, my mum took my brother and me to Nashville during spring break, and we spent the trip driving around Music Row. She stayed in the car while I rushed into record companies one after another, giving my demo CD to the receptionists. I found it fascinating that so many major record labels were gathered along a single street, often inside little buildings and old houses.
"What really stayed with me was how welcoming people were to newcomers and complete strangers like us. We started visiting Nashville more often, and when I was 13, I received an offer for a development deal from a major record label. That was when my parents finally agreed to leave Pennsylvania and move with me."
