Decoding Charli XCX's new album, Music, Fashion, Film

Charli XCX was supposed to be taking a break.

Her sixth album, Brat, was the sort of record you could genuinely call era-defining, without being accused of overstating its significance.

Experimental but accessible songs like Guess, Apple and 360 propelled the star to new heights of fame.

Her album was co-opted into Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign, and Collins English Dictionary updated its definition of Brat, to acknowledge its use as an adjective characterising the music's "confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude".

After a punishing year-long tour, the singer accepted a few acting roles, wrote the soundtrack to Emerald Fennel's adaptation of Wuthering Heights and married her longterm partner George Daniel.

But instead of settling down, she found herself back in the studio.

"Out of the blue, inspiration struck me," she says. "I suddenly felt like I had something to say, so I ran with it."

In a matter of weeks, she dashed off 11 short, guitar-based songs that tried to make sense of her whirlwind two years.

The resulting album, titled Music, Fashion, Film, is smart, self-referential, funny, antagonistic and crammed full of moments to stimulate your inner earworm.

Significantly, deliberately, it's not Brat 2.0.

"If I'd made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad," she told Vogue in the first interview for the album, external.

"To be boring is to die right there on the spot," she added in a newsletter to fans, external. "Give up, give in, go home, stay home, end it all."

As a result, there's a lot to uncover in the music and lyrics. Here's what we learned.