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Jan 16, 2026 By Mark Redfern Photography by Paul Kooiker

Charli XCX is releasing a new album, Wuthering Heights, the soundtrack to Emerald Fennell’s new movie adaptation, on February 13 via Atlantic. Now Charli has shared another song from it, “Wall of Sound.” Listen below.

The album includes “House,” a new song Charli shared in November. It features legendary Welsh avant garde musician (and former Velvet Underground member) John Cale and made our Songs of the Week list at #1. Then she shared the album’s “Chains of Love.”

Wuthering Heights is the latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel, directed by Emerald Fennell (Saltburn, Promising Young Woman) and starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. The film is also due out February 13.

Charli XCX had this to say about “House” and Wuthering Heights in a previous press release: “I got a call from Emerald Fennell last Christmas asking whether I would consider working on a song for her adaptation of Wuthering Heights. I read the script and immediately felt inspired so Finn Keane and I began working on not just one but many songs that we felt connected to the world she was creating. After being so in the depths of my previous album I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite. When I think of Wuthering Heights I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.

“A few years ago I watched Todd Haynes’ documentary about The Velvet Underground. As many of you know I’m a huge fan of the band and was really taken by the documentary. One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of The Velvet Underground. That any song had to be both ‘elegant and brutal.’ I got really stuck on that phrase. I write it down on my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.

“When working on music for this film, ‘elegant and brutal’ was a phrase I kept coming back to. One day whilst on tour in Austin, Finn and I went to the studio and wrote the bones for a song that would eventually become House. When the summer ended I was still ruminating on John’s words. So I decided to reach out to him to get his opinion on the songs that his phrase had so deeply inspired, but also to see whether he might want to collaborate on any.

“We got connected, we spoke on the phone and wow… that voice, so elegant, so brutal. I sent him some songs and we started talking specifically about House. We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made my cry.

“I feel so lucky to have been able to work with John on this song. I’ve been so excited to share it with you all, sitting quietly in anticipation.

“Love you all, let’s fall in love again and again <3”

Charli XCX released her biggest album yet, Brat, in 2024.

Charli also has a lot of upcoming film roles this year. She’s starring in A24’s The Moment, from an original idea by her. A previous press release also laid out her other upcoming acting gigs: “Charli will star in Daniel Goldhaber’s remake of 1978 cult horror Faces of Death, Greg Araki’s erotic thriller I Want Your Sex, Cathy Yan’s upcoming independent film The Gallerist, Julia Jackman’s period fantasy 100 Nights of Hero, Romain Gavras’ satirical action Sacrifice, and Pete Ohs’ intimate drama Erupcja.”

Read our 2013 cover story interview with Charli XCX.

Read our 2023 interview with John Cale.

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