Charli XCX's new album Music, Fashion, Film has been hailed as a “disarmingly deep album” amid a string of positive and mixed reviews. The singer’s latest record, her seventh, was released on July 24 and follows the global success of Brat in 2024.
Positive Reviews
The Guardian awarded the “gorgeously astute” album five stars and said it is about “the instability of identity – not just as a vanguard songwriter striving for evolution, but how much we can ever know one another, or even ourselves”. Rolling Stone gave the album four stars and called it “a brilliant, catchy, often very funny look at the machinery of fame”. It said the song Wink Wink is the standout track and added that the record was proof that Charli is “ever evolving”.
Billboard and Observer
Billboard magazine noted the change in genre from Brat, saying Music, Fashion, Film is more “guitar-focused” and “less beat-heavy”. It added: “Music, Fashion, Film is another fascinating, addictive, singular catalogue entry in a body of work that is quickly becoming one of the 21st century’s most formidable.” The Observer also gave the record a positive assessment, calling it a “tightly-themed work”, adding: “Only two tracks exceed the three-minute mark, and mostly it is a brash and playful outing. This is an artist who regards laurels like poison ivy and, because of that, should keep receiving them.”
Mixed and Negative Reviews
In a more mixed review, The Independent gave the album three stars but found its themes “confusing and contradictory” and felt the ideas behind it were “half-baked”. The review said: “On Music, Fashion, Film, there are more than a few instances where you feel like you’re witnessing the creative process in action – you’re inside it, rather than enjoying the final, polished version.” In another three-star review, The Times wrote: “It’s refreshingly non-careerist of Charli XCX, aka 33-year-old Charlotte Aitchison, to return after the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon of Brat with something that sounds as though it was thrown together over a few margaritas. But it can also feel like a fashionable in-joke with one eye on the resurgence of indie rock – where that leaves the listener is anyone’s guess.”
In one of the few negative reviews for Music, Fashion, Film, The Telegraph criticised its “grating production” and “empty, self-conscious songs”, adding: “The end result is incoherence, and a clear split in quality. On the one hand I’m impressed that Charli has had the courage to go down a different path and try something new. On the other, I’m now Googling how to stop the ringing in my ears.”
