Charli xcx was confronted with the impossible. Following up “Brat Summer”—the fashion and lifestyle microtrend that spawned from her 2024 megahit album “BRAT”—seemed unimaginable. How could Charli, who acknowledges the pop culture phenomena as her climax within the industry, move on from the moment? Many predicted that Charli would follow “BRAT” with something similar in sound: club beats filled with aggression, rawness and grit. Instead, she chose to spin her pop diva persona into something more harsh, gothic and surprisingly…Victorian?
Enter Emerald Fennell’s new adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” an overdrawn, lackluster period piece starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, released on Feb. 13. Apart from being a shallow interpretation, the film—based on the novel by Emily Brontë—has sparked intense criticism for its “whitewashed” casting and lack of substance. The movie itself is strange, horny and confused; it is peculiar that Charli would pick this endeavor for her next project. Nevertheless, Fennell’s hope for Charli to contribute a song for the film quickly turned into a greater venture. Thereupon, longtime fans of Charli, like myself, were aghast when she announced that her next album would be inspired by Fennell’s version of “Wuthering Heights.”
Initially, I was skeptical of Charli’s ability to ride the coattails of “BRAT” into something more “serious,” trading in her scandalous, party-girl persona for embroidered silk and soft-boiled eggs. But critically, I was curious how Charli would transform her sound into, quite literally, a different landscape. And with the arrival of the first single, “House,” this past November, Charli proved she was ready to conquer a more isolated, gloomy project.
The genius of the eerie “House,” which likely informed her choice to release it first, resides within the complete tone switch Charli establishes within her sound. Sounding of “nails on a chalkboard,” the grotesque strings that build at the forefront of the song settle within a cavernous, haunted atmosphere of deep bass and cracking synths. The song is vague, but impactful. Aided by vocals from John Cale (yes, the one from the Velvet Underground), the pair shrieks and fractures, setting the strange resonance “Wuthering Heights” entails: “I think I’m gonna die in this house.”
Whether the album deserves to be called a full Charli xcx album remains unanswered. There certainly are elements of classic Charli scattered throughout. “Chains of Love,” for instance, is a remnant of Charli’s typical synth-pop anthems with its autotuned, electronic pulse. The similar “Eyes of the World” interplays Charli’s sharp voice with Sky Ferreira’s mysterious eloquence. The duo switches between intense moments of blurry strings and staggering percussion, resulting in a sound like that of Charli’s 2013 album “True Romance.”
Charli’s experimentalism, however, still shines. The use of strings throughout “Wuthering Heights” is perhaps her most ambitious production choice, though a successful one. “Wall of Sound” maintains the unnatural feeling of “House” but slowed down, resulting in an overtly emotional listening experience as Charli describes overwhelming, addictive love through the lens of anxiety. Similarly, both “Dying for You” and “Seeing Things” accelerate with plucking twines and keen, stretched vocals from Charli, akin to courtship-esque, ballroom dances during the late 18th century. “Out of Myself” showcases profound cello and quippy drums, scattering the feelings of fresh love during the “honeymoon phase.”
The overall implementation of orchestral crescendo throughout the project creates glaring apprehension in the listener, spewing the off-putting effect the film inspires. To that end, Charli’s mastery as an artist lives in the fact that she did not view the film before making her album. With only access to the screenplay, the film’s uncomfortable, gothic imagery still exists within Charli’s work. Her songwriting is strongest in the tracks that break from the fierce strings, instead focusing the production on blazing, lively synths. “Always Everywhere” exhibits Charli dipping into previously undiscovered fields of poetic description, utilizing symbolic elements from the novel: “On the water, your face on top of mine / A fever dream of mirrored features, hungry eyes.”
Even with its uncanny themes and stirring production, Charli, alongside longtime collaborator Finn Keane, refuses to abandon the addicting pop hooks and memorable refrains that she is often celebrated for. The catchy “Altars”—which details the agony of placing a romantic relationship on a pedestal, only to face betrayal and emotional destruction—strums along a pounding beat as Charli’s vocals soar through. “My Reminder” lyrically beams Charli’s empathic emotions while energetically jumping along the track’s playful production. It is clear that even with the dark themes and sinister period romance that “Wuthering Heights” provides, Charli is reluctant to completely abandon her pop sound for something alternative, cinematic and just plain creepy.
And perhaps that is my biggest quarrel with “Wuthering Heights” as a project. While Charli triumphs in delivering an addictive pop album—the likes of which are already present in her extensive discography—I was left wanting more. The deepening, otherworldly expectation set off by “House” revved up audiences for a record more reminiscent of sound by artists like Ethel Cain. Instead, Charli chose to play it safe. “Funny Mouth,” the epic closing track, promises eminence with mournful, jarring strings overlaid with “cyberpunk” glitches. Yet when the song seems to be approaching a significant experimental culmination that would rise above anything Charli has created before, it crumbles to silence, the strings quietly fading into the background.
It is not to say “Wuthering Heights” is a mundane album. Numerous moments of the work left me yearning to run through rainy moors toward my obsessive lover. And still the audience is able to fully grasp the all-consuming emotions of Cathy, the wild and raw protagonist of the film, and the intense passion between her and Heathcliff. Charli has surely explored new realms of experimental production that work in her favor: blending hyper-pop with orchestral, brutal soundscapes. Still, most of the tracks give in to her usual distorted vocals and driving synth-based production as seen on “BRAT.”
After viewing “Wuthering Heights,” I was left with unease. Sure, the album captured the compulsive love themes and dreadful emotions the film required, but I am not sure if it was necessary. Fennell aimed for camp, and perhaps Charli xcx was the only solution. But with a film that so heinously adapted a classic novel with exaggeration and distraction, Charli’s work was merely a casualty along the way. Is this album what Brontë pictured for her infamous novel? Probably not. The record is a compelling but frustrating companion to Fennell’s film: had Charli produced a similar project detached from “Wuthering Heights,” perhaps it could have been her next big “moment.”