After becoming the defining pop star of summer 2024, Charli XCX had every reason to capitalize on Brat’s viral momentum. The album dominated TikTok, launched a thousand memes, and made her a household name. But instead of following up with more of the same, she dropped Music, Fashion, Film in July 2026, a deliberately provocative rejection of everything that made Brat so commercially successful. The new album clocks in at just 30 minutes with most songs under three minutes—basically Charli telling listeners“you want more? Figure it out yourselves.”
What makes Music, Fashion, Film philosophically interesting is its interrogation of fame itself. Charli brought in 83-year-old filmmaker David Cronenberg for the final track, where he meditates on mortality and oblivion with a line that repeats throughout:“They are dead, they are gone, no one lasts forever.”Rather than feeling morbid, it becomes oddly uplifting and the emotional centerpiece of an album obsessed with questioning why we care about celebrity at all. She addresses how politics becomes a press strategy, heritage becomes a unique selling proposition, and identity gets packaged and sold. The sonics shifted too—less pure electronic production, more experimental instrumentation and live elements, possibly influenced by her 2025 marriage to The 1975’s drummer George Daniel.
The real question is whether deliberately making music that’s harder to consume is another form of control over her narrative. Is playing harder-to-get after viral success another marketing strategy, or is it genuine artistic rejection of commodification? That’s the tension Charli seems comfortable sitting in, and frankly, it’s more interesting than another Brat song. What do you think—is Music, Fashion, Film her most honest work, or just a smarter play on her image?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.