★★★★⯪
Few artists pivot musically and make it, especially from a sound drastically different from their last body of work. With ‘Wuthering Heights’, Charli XCX delivers a full-scale cinematic masterpiece to Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. This album marks a turn from her previous work of hyperpop with ‘Brat’. XCX’s exploration of a new, expansive orchestral and theatrical sound creates an intentionally unsettling atmosphere. While some tracks still feature the pop sound we’ve grown to associate with XCX, the album succeeds with its tone and narrative immersion.
The album opens up with ‘House’ featuring John Cale, a track that immediately establishes the feeling of suffocation as the main theme of the project. Cale’s opening monologue helps to showcase the mood:“I am a prisoner, to live for eternity / I was thinking, ‘What is this place?’ / I thought it would be perfect / ’I want it to be perfect". As the instrumentation builds, XCX’s repeating of the phrase, “I think I’m going to die in this house” settles into something almost physically intense.
That tension flows directly into ‘Wall of Sound’, a track that captures the overwhelming sense of something being inescapable. ‘Dying For You’ then aids in sharpening the albums main theme of love being a suffocating attachment, with one of the most striking lines being, “Yeah you’re my favorite jewelry / worn just like a noose ‘round my neck”. The message XCX conveys is clear: the devotion one can have for another is not always comforting. It can be all too consuming for some to bear.
Much of the album explores the haunting of emotions, and the psychological effects it can have. There is a persistent concept throughout the album that one's mind can trick them into seeing and hearing things that aren’t there due to the body being unable to forget the intensity of a relationship, with ‘Always Everywhere’ and ‘Seeing Things’ focusing on these themes the most. Similarly, the track ‘Chains of Love’ frames romance as something entirely different from its fairy tale meaning. Instead of love being a pure connection, the track frames it as restrictive. Thematically, these tracks align with the classic Gothic literature the album is inspired by.
Identity becomes the central point in ‘Out of Myself’, where romantic attachment blurs the borders of personal boundaries. The lyrics, “You take me out of myself / Who am I? / Am I your girl?” emphasise this idea even more. The interlude ‘Open Up’ functions as a moment of stillness in chaotic love, with the title acting as a repeated phrase throughout the track that signals vulnerability. ‘Altars’ shift the focus onto belief, and how having blind faith can lead one down a dark and dangerous path of devotion.
One of the most devastating tracks arrives with ‘Eyes of the World’, featuring Sky Ferreira. It examines how the outside influence of the world can be detrimental to one's psyche. Meditating on the scrutiny endured from class and systematic inequality, XCX produces one of her most intimate pieces of work. ‘My Reminder’ explores how the mind can be a fickle thing with the ability to preserve someone as pure while ignoring the atrocities they have done to others. The closing track ‘Funny Mouth’ delivers a message for listeners to ponder with as they leave this album: words have permanence whether we mean what we say or not, and the consequences that follow are not forgotten with time.
The production of this album is the main highlight of it all, completed by longtime XCX collaborator Finn Keane and additional producers Lewis Pesacov, Justin Raisen and Nathan Klein. XCX has previously talked about feeling detached from making music after the success of ‘Brat’ and not knowing where to go next in her musical career. This album proves she has the capability to create art even after a rut. She holds writing credits throughout the entire release that demonstrate her versatility as an artist.
The orchestral arrangements cannot go unnoticed as well. Led by Garrett Murphy, the string orchestra adds a layer needed to make the album work in a cinematic context. The strings are especially effective in ‘Funny Mouth’ where the last few seconds a single, unstable, high pitched note is placed, leaving the listener feeling suspended in thought.
Even without the film, ‘Wuthering Heights’ stands as its own fully independent statement. It demonstrates XCX’s range as an artist who can show multiple versions of herself while still being authentic.
Kierra White
Image: ‘Wuthering Heights’ Official Album Cover