Nothing’s Gonna Last Forever: A ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ Deep Dive
After the success of her iconic album ‘Brat’ in 2024, like many artists who go that viral, Charli xcx was presented with a common crossroads: do I beat this into the ground until it is ultimately drained of its life force and everyone becomes bored and slightly sick, or do I leave it all behind and try something completely new?
As someone who constantly challenges boundaries, Charli chose the latter, and it was arguably the best decision she could have made. In fact, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ feels like the natural next step in her musical journey. It couldn’t have been made without 'Brat’, because this new album shows us the sobering effect that the release of ‘Brat’ had.
It’s clear that Charli xcx doesn’t enjoy being boxed into a rigid label or identity or being told what she should do or who she should be, no matter how scary it might have been to take on a new form. The closing track on ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ feels like the resolution that urged her to move forward.
It’s also important to note that, in between ‘Brat’ and ‘Music, Fashion, Film’, Charli did not stay still. She worked on the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (2026) and released her album of the same name. Before its release, she was acting in several films, including her mockumentary The Moment (2026) directed by Aidan Zamiri. She also launched her partnership with tech brand Nothing as their first Global Brand Ambassador, and even got married. It’s safe to say she’s lived a lot of life between the releases of these two albums.
That growth is felt throughout the record. You can hear the darkness, angst and perhaps fear that this time of her life has brought her, hanging heavily in the air. From start to finish, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ is packed with stories and emotions that are genuinely intriguing. Let’s walk through it from front to back.
The Dancefloor Is Dead, So Now What?
‘Music, Fashion, Film’ was released in April 2026, just shy of the two-year anniversary of ‘Brat’, which was released in June 2024. Charli xcx was not planning on making and releasing another record so soon after ‘Brat’. In fact, she said she wanted to quit music to further her career in acting. In a way, she managed to intersect all her interests in the title and theme of this project.
The album cover features John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese, aka, music, fashion and film respectively - and the narrative follows the same theme.
The intro track, ‘Rock Music’, sets the tone. In the first verse, Charli makes the controversial statement that absolutely rattled the internet, “I think the dance floor is dead / So now we're making rock music”. If you have been on the dancefloor recently, you will know that this is obviously not true, but it was later clarified that this lyric was a self-reference to Charli leaving her ‘Brat’ era behind and embarking on something new, rather than a literal critic of the dancefloor or pop music. “That lyric is very much about my relationship with Brat, and my personal experience with that album,” she told Rolling Stone.
Still, “the dancefloor is dead” can relate to a number of things: the way that digital surveillance has resulted in people becoming afraid that they will be filmed and posted online for public scrutiny, not allowing them to live authentically in the moment. The fun party girl Charli was in ‘Brat’ is now “dead” as she embarks on this new era, and singling out the “dancefloor” specifically - instead of saying the club or parties - might also mean the dancefloor itself as a format or stage for self-expression. That, too, has died, and now Charli is turning to a medium well known for expressing angst: rock music.
That brings us back to our three central mediums. Music, fashion, and film are not just interests of Charli’s, or industries where she is present, but stages for self-expression that she wishes to move between without restriction.
The song itself is gritty. Her tone feels rebellious and defiant, almost like she is pre-empting the scepticism that this post-‘Brat’ project will be met with. She’s having fun on this track: making music with her friends, exploring new possibilities, and letting us know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into as we step into this new era with her.
How It Makes Me Feel When This Album’s On
I’ve listened to this album a couple of times, and the first listen did feel a bit jarring – I felt a bit displaced – but once I heard the last track, it all somewhat miraculously clicked into place and I finally felt like I knew what this album was about.
Then for fun, I listened to ‘Brat’ front to back and queued up ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ right after. The transition from one album to the other felt like going back in time. ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ has some of those key A. G. Cook and Charli xcx elements but something feels very stripped back and ‘girl who’s gonna be okay’ about it.
The lyrics are very clear; they’re not as decorative as ‘Brat’. On ‘Brat’, the production felt like a key part of the album and the experience, but something about ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ feels like the instrumental is just a frame for a wider story. It feels gritty and experimental, like, ‘this is something I made in my garage over the weekend and I don’t really care what you think’. Very Charli xcx.
Camera
If there was a single that encapsulated the entire album it would be this. ‘Camera’ is a love letter to film; the main contender for the place that music holds in Charli xcx’s life and career.
There’s a melancholy in the chorus, this experience of freedom and escape that Charli feels while being on camera, while understanding that she very clearly is still in love with music. After all, that’s why she’s here.
Charli is so candid with her confession throughout the album. Especially on this song, it feels like a journal entry. She craves the danger and risk of abandoning music for this new experience, but can’t get herself to do it just yet. It’s almost as if Charli is using the song to weigh out the pros, two ideas at war with each other. Even by the end, she’s not able to make a solid decision because she’s afraid.
If there was a single that encapsulated the entire album it would be this. ‘Camera’ is a love letter to film; the main contender for the place that music holds in Charli xcx’s life and career.
There’s a melancholy in the chorus, this experience of freedom and escape that Charli feels while being on camera, while understanding that she very clearly is still in love with music. After all, that’s why she’s here.
Charli is so candid with her confession throughout the album. Especially on this song, it feels like a journal entry. She craves the danger and risk of abandoning music for this new experience, but can’t get herself to do it just yet. It’s almost as if Charli is using the song to weigh out the pros, two ideas at war with each other. Even by the end, she’s not able to make a solid decision because she’s afraid.
I’m Afraid
The bass is ominous throughout the verses, drawing our focus to the story, while the chorus is filled with grating, anxious sounds. There’s something about this track that feels so naked and raw - not in a way that feels empty and hollow, but in a way that makes you feel the cloud of despair and the weight of abandonment hanging in the air. It’s a tone of voice that could never exist in the ‘Brat’ world, or on the dancefloor.
In ‘I’m Afraid’, Charli xcx shares her anxiety surrounding her relationship and her new identity as a wife. The subject matter is heavy and not a feeling she can dance away.
The serious tone of the track is deliberately juxtaposed by the track being placed between some more upbeat and playful songs like ‘2007 ‘, ‘Yeah’ and ‘Wink Wink’. It’s a moment of: ‘well, that was sad, let’s just pretend that didn’t happen and bang our heads for a bit’. But we meet that anxiety again in the final track, and it is this moment which pulls the entire album together.
No One Lasts Forever
I really appreciate this song as the album closer – its essence, its lyrics, and even its extremely long outro.
I still remember how hard this struck me on my first listen. It was impossible to not feel like I had some kind of epiphany. That realisation is the core of ‘Music, Fashion, Film’.
This track almost explains why the album exists: why it feels at times eerie and strange at times, why it’s so stripped back, why the visuals are literally drained of colour, and why we are exploring the future by stepping into an aesthetic that is reminiscent of the past.
‘Camera’ embodies what this project is from the outside, but this track - this is the album. It’s the answer to that question I raised at the beginning: what do you do with yourself after experiencing such extreme levels of success?
I suspect that, at some point on the way down from the extreme high of Brat summer, Charli xcx arrived at a well-known but crucial realisation: nothing lasts forever. We all know this, yet we so often lose sight of it. That’s why the almost 90 seconds of David Cronenberg reminding us over and over again was a perfect way to end the album - a reminder for Charli, but a reminder for us too.
Gotta Be Honest, I Needed That
Something Charli xcx has kept at the core of her music is feeling, whether that’s pain, joy, or the need to dance it all away. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something felt especially exposed and skeletal about this album, amplified by its black-and-white film aesthetic.
‘Music, Fashion, Film’ says the things that ‘Brat’ couldn’t, with the benefit of time, age and hindsight. That’s what this record is really about: change, and how it is the one constant in our lives. Whether it’s changing her career path, entering a new stage of her relationship, or navigating the ever-evolving landscape of fame and art, Charli xcx has accepted change and abandoned the need for permanence - or at least, she’s trying to. And aren’t we all?
That was my takeaway, but there’s so much more covered in the album, and I’m sure it will resonate with other people in entirely different ways. It may not be a ‘Brat’ summer anymore, or even a ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ summer, but I can already tell that this is one of those records I will keep coming back to.
Submit music to DMY here.
