Release Date: 13 February 2026
Song Count: 12
Duration: 34 minutes, 40 seconds
Rating: 6.9/10
Description:
Taking an excursion to a new release from a very popular artist, we are greeted by the likes of Charli XCX, originally Charlotte Aitchison, with a soundtrack album made specifically for the romantic drama film Wuthering Heights, where it subsequently gets its name from. The British pop star has quite the weight on her shoulders in terms of public expectations, following from the immense success of her last album from two years ago, BRAT, as well as its subsequent respins and remixes, the widespread acclaim of which managed to lead to the coinage of the modern slang term "brat summer" as a pop culture phenomenon as a whole. Perhaps at least partially as a way to distance herself from this unreachably high bar, Wuthering Heights does everything in its power to aurally distance itself from its predecessor and bring something entirely new to the table to stand on its own merit.
If one goes into this album looking for a collection of summer-defining party anthems or anything adjacent to that sort, this may not be the right place for it whatsoever - the listener is instead greeted with countless dramatic, self-reflective, vulnerable and often slower tracks that incorporate a whole whirlwind of influences and subgenres into its mixture, including things like Baroque Pop and Witch House. The general tendency of the album is not to say that every track within it is a slow and sad ballad with no groove, however - multiple tracks, such as "Dying for You", "Seeing Things" and "Out of Myself", mix their orchestral instruments and highly melodic nature with hooking and at times even danceable beats and provide a much higher level of energy as a means to provide variety. It all overall leads to a fascinating combination of pop, "darker" electronic music, and even at times classical/baroque music, and most certainly not something mainstream music can claim it is accustomed to in any way.
Is this album likely to produce a brand new hit to define the year on and smash records out of the water? Based on the nature of the outputs of Wuthering Heights, it seems rather unlikely, at least to yours truly - though far from lacking in charm, the secret special ingredient that tends to frame an album as one that breaks through spectacularly seems to be sort of missing in these specific tracks. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in that aspect, however, as only time can truly tell what comes of Charli XCX's newest venture. Summed up, it is a record beyond the usual striking zone of the mainstream pop industry, even for an artist like Aitchison who is known to release more experimental music on occasion, and one that stands as rather shaky in terms of general memorability, but nevertheless provides plenty of enjoyment, especially for those willing to experience something new from a more well-established singer.