Charli xcx continues her “rock music” era with the release of the song and video for “SS26,” taking fans behind the scenes and on the runway at a fashion show.
The singer preempted the video release of “SS26” with a 30-minute “Pre Show” on YouTube, where she tried on different outfits and showcased clothes from designers she’s worn as of late (Zadig & Voltaire in the video for “Rock Music,” Lou de Bètoly at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival). She then premiered the official video, in which she served a variety of looks while mugging for the cameras.
Charli teased “SS26” earlier this week, putting out the song’s lyrics on her Substack on Monday. She also posted a flier for “SS26” on socials, inviting fans to “attend the presentation of Charli xcx SS26 directed by Torso.” Like with “Rock Music,” “SS26” was co-written and co-produced with A.G. Cook and Finn Keane.
The pop singer set off this new era by suggesting that it could potentially be heading in a rock direction after a British Vogue cover story quoted a lyric, “I think the dancefloor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.” “If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad, but what’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on that could be,” she said in the interview. “For me, it’s fun to flip the form. We know there’s gonna be people who are bothered by it, but that’s fine.”
Though there was initial confusion about the album heading in a rock direction, Charli posted some behind-the-scenes footage from the “Rock Music” recording session and captioned the clip, “A video of me making a song called ‘rock music’ that is not actually rock music which is funny because I never said I was making a rock album.”
Little else is known about what’s assumed to be her upcoming seventh studio album. But she has barely taken her foot off the gas over the past few years, taking her 2024 album “Brat” around the globe on tour and releasing her own film “The Moment.” This past February, she released the soundtrack album for Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights,” which featured collaborations with John Cale and Sky Ferreira.
Leave a Reply