a tough act to follow

on friday 24th july, british genre-bending megastar charli xcx released her latest album music, fashion, film, and let’s just say we have some thoughts. in comparison to 2024’s brat, charli’s latest project has landed with minimal splash, generating nowhere near as much noise, social media chatter, or hit tiktok dance trends (yet). at this stage in her last album cycle you couldn’t escape her tight grip on culture, whether it was online, in your local supermarket or in the charts, as cliche as it has now become brat summer really was a phenomenon. charli xcx was breaking the mould, blurring the lines between music and culture in a way that hasn’t been done in who knows how long, resulting in genuinely one of the greatest albums of the 2020s thus far.

but when music, fashion, film hit the shelves (streaming services), things were eerily quiet. outside of the lead single rock music which somewhat cut through, we hadn’t really seen much of charli. and despite the album having a clear and unique visual identity, and seemingly a core theme and message (‘seemingly’ doing a lot of the work here- more on that later) outside of a few tiktoks and music videos you had to look pretty hard over the weekend to know if an album had actually been released or not.

comparing music, fashion, film to brat is unfair, and that isn’t the purpose of this review. nobody was expecting the hype around this album to be equal to, or even vaguely similar to charli’s 2024 moment- brat was an anomaly not even the greatest artistic brains could have predicted or constructed. similarly, nobody was expecting music, fashion, film to stand up to brat’s explosively experimental and rattling musical identity- but they were expecting something. they were expecting a coherent, polished and genre pushing project, because that’s what charli xcx has consistently delivered project after project, year after year. and especially now, with more eyes on her career than ever before, the pressure was on to create something special. i would argue music, fashion, film falls short of this mark quite significantly.

before anything else, this review has to begin with praise. because if you placed 100 artists in charli xcx’s position: coming off the back of the biggest musical and cultural moment the industry has seen in years, an album that is widely and critically considered to be a masterpiece, and presumably a hell of a lot of money for everyone involved, i would hedge 99 out of 100 artists double down on that sound, make another 5 carbon copy albums and collect a hefty pay cheque doing what is safe. charli xcx hasn’t done that, and has instead opted to embrace a completely new musical sound and visual identity for music, fashion, film, and so before you even hear a second of the record you’ve got to respect that.

plus, charli xcx has always had an ear for a hit, and so it’s no surprise that despite its flaws music, fashion, film still has its fair share of decent songs. the opener rock music is a genuinely interesting take on pop rock, with distorted guitars melted into electronic production and a vocal hook so unique it can never be replicated. ss26 similarly has some really interesting production, and the way charli interweaves with it vocally is mesmerising. wink wink isn’t anything new production-wise but you have to acknowledge a well written, clever pop song (no prizes for guessing which song is going to rack up the most streams here), and the closer no one lasts forever featuring david cronenberg is the one moment where the album genuinely connects emotionally. but unfortunately, by and large that’s where the praise for music, fashion, film ends.

music, fashion, film is horrifically underbaked. charli xcx had a really interesting, novel and unique album rising in the oven, and she pulled it out too early, resulting in an sunken, soggy mess. sure, it probably still tastes good, but you can’t help dreaming of what could’ve been.

this is most glaringly obvious on tracks such as yeah. listen, i’m not one of these people who is going to sit and complain about ‘meaningless lyrics’, because some of my favourite music of all time is largely meaningless, and i think the voice as an instrument is just as valuable as it is as a communicative tool. but you can only get away with nonsense lyrics when it’s backed up by the song itself. playboi carti can say ‘yeah’ 100 times in a row because the instrumental beneath it is invigorating enough, on yeah charli xcx can’t. there’s no emotive connection, the production is predictable, and the lyrics leave almost everything to be desired- it’s the big three this-song-sucks indicators.

but on the over side of the spectrum, where we do have really powerful words (such as the touching and emotive tribute to a.g cook on magic metal montana), it’s the rest of the song which lets it down. the words may be moving, but the instrumental is sparse or repetitive, or the song is crying out for a bridge, or a solo, or… just something. the album reads like 11 sketches of songs, ready to be taken away, torn apart and built up again, and transformed into a polished and cohesive album.

when i first listened to music, fashion, film on sunday morning, the thought that kept returning to the front of my mind was ‘this feels like the deluxe album songs to a much more finished and interesting album which doesn’t exist’. like the b-sides have ganged up together and ejected all the a-sides, leaving a tracklist of mediocre afterthoughts. it feels like music, fashion, film was destined for a 2027 release, and someone pressed the panic button a few weeks ago and said ‘screw it, let’s just release what we have now.’ there isn’t one song here, saving rock music and maybe no one lasts forever at a push, that earns its keep, or leaves any lasting impression more than 5-minutes after the album ends. and it’s frustrating, because you can hear the intentions, and the basis of what could be a really interesting and challenging record (just the idea alone of charli xcx taking on rock influences is exciting), but it sells itself so short. i know i said this album was never going to live up to the expectations of brat, but this really doesn’t even come close.

best song: rock music

worst song: yeah