Albums to watch

Music, Fashion, Film

Charli XCX

Music, Fashion, Film

The latest album from the English electro pop star featuring contributions from A. G. Cook, David Cronenberg and Finn Keane

ADM rating[?]

8.0

Label
Atlantic
UK Release date
24/07/2026
US Release date
24/07/2026
  1. 10.0 |   DIY

    A candid, introspective triumph that leaves just enough of the dancefloor well and truly alive
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  2. 10.0 |   The Guardian

    How do you follow up the album that made you a star – and a caricature? In classic Charli style: with a pivot to guitar and a meta masterpiece about the instability of identity
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  3. 10.0 |   Dork

    Charli plays to her strengths on ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ and cuts straight through the fluff
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  4. 9.1 |   Paste Magazine

    Charli xcx’s Brat follow-up takes us deep into her ouroboros of self-referentiality: each statement contains its own contradiction, and the boundaries between truth and artifice in her autofictional world are blurred
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  5. 9.1 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Charli asks big questions about artistic greatness and mortality on her seventh album, and the result is thrilling
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  6. 9.0 |   Clash

    ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ isn’t about to inspire a No One Lasts Forever Autumn: its unsettling brilliance is there to be savoured in quiet privacy, not under the bright lights of a club. All the same, it really is brilliant, and it deserves a very different kind of attention from its artist’s previous output
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  7. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Her art dips into legacies without being beholden to them, rejecting references as soon as she invokes them, creating a playful contradiction that feels like her own post-postmodern language
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  8. 9.0 |   The Quietus

    Its authors may be busy denying that this is the 'rock' album expected by some, but perhaps it is still the best punk album of the decade
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  9. 8.8 |   Beats Per Minute

    Brilliant writing that is subtle and clever, delivered with arrogance, irony and self deprecation
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  10. 8.5 |   Under The Radar

    Music, Fashion, Film serves as yet another remarkable achievement for Charli xcx, who is, at least in this writer’s mind, by far the era’s most interesting and innovative superstar
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  11. 8.2 |   Pitchfork

    On the follow-up to BRAT, the pop auteur pivots to a referential, proudly tossed-off rock sound that offers mystifying glances behind the curtain of stardom
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  12. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Her proper follow-up to Brat is a brilliant, catchy, often very funny look at the machinery of fame
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  13. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    What must it be like to be Charli XCX in a post-Brat universe? The singer tells you all about it on this engaging, spirited LP
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  14. 8.0 |   XS Noize

    In just two years, Charli XCX has moved on from Brat to make an album that delivers exactly what its title promises: Music, Fashion, Film. The only question is whether everyone else is ready to move on with her
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  15. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    Charli XCX, now on her seventh record, pursues the continuum of human feelings and flairs. This may be the most humane entry yet in the grand canon
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  16. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The album is at once a reckoning and a self-conscious pivot
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  17. 8.0 |   NME

    The pop star follows up the world-conquering ‘Brat’ with a spiky ‘rock’ album that refuses easy consumption – and insists on the transformative power of art-making
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  18. 8.0 |   Hot Press

    Across a lean 30 minutes, the songs feel like diary entries, laced with biting humour and self-awareness as she dissects the culture she helped define
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  19. 8.0 |   All Music

    There's a lot to be said for capturing inspiration while it's still raw, especially when it sounds as inquisitive and invigorated as Music, Fashion, Film
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  20. 8.0 |   Exclaim

    It feels presumptuous inserting my experience into criticism of work as deeply personal as Music, Fashion, Film, but if anyone would understand the necessity of self-reference, it would be Charli. Sometimes all we can know is how it makes us feel
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  21. 7.8 |   Spectrum Culture

    Rages against many forces in Charli’s life, but ultimately “No One Lasts Forever” triple-underlines the message as a reminder to herself — and to us — that the fame, the insecurity, the confidence and everything in between is fleeting
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  22. 7.0 |   Northern Transmissions

    A junkyard of half-formed thoughts, pretentious grabs at poetry, and amusing cultural critique. It might be her rawest album—in terms of writing and production—but it’s hard to separate the ambitious star who loves being on top of the world and one traumatized by its effects
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  23. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    Latest experimental offering from Charlotte Aitchison may sail close to self-indulgence but also cements her status as one of our most compelling pop stars
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  24. 7.0 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    If anything, Charli should’ve probably taken more time to develop this release – especially considering she just released Wuthering Heights earlier in the year. With a bit more time and development, Music, Fashion, Film could’ve been
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  25. 6.0 |   The Independent

    The pop star’s seventh album plays around with a number of ideas about her three favourite artforms, along with questions of identity and self-worth. It’s strange to hear her sounding so unsure of herself after the neon-green boldness of ‘Brat’
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  26. 6.0 |   The Skinny

    Charli xcx's Brat follow-up is a bold shift in style, but beyond its singles Music, Fashion Film makes for patchy listening
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  27. 5.5 |   No Ripcord

    The guitars are effectively a sideshow. A filter of sorts. This isn’t rock music. Charli hasn’t abandoned the dance floor. It’s all just window dressing, and most of the time it sounds strikingly joyless and distinctly mediocre
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  28. 4.0 |   Far Out

    If Brat was the nightclub, then this feels like three hours into the after party that you never wanted to be at, full of posers chatting shite about “real incestuous vibes”
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