Looks like the dance floor is dead, and now Charli xcx is making rock music. Charli’s 2024 album, Brat, took the entire world, summer, and that year’s presidential campaign by storm. The lime green color was found everywhere, along with everyone calling themselves and things “Brat.” The club-inspired album served as a testament to party girls around the world. After xcx created the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights in February 2026, she officially kicked off her next era following Brat with her release of “Rock Music” on May 8. The track was released along with a music video where drums explode, Charli steps on guitars and lights a multitude of cigarettes in her mouth, and more. It’s perfectly chaotic and chic, in typical Charli xcx fashion.
If one thing is certain, it looks like the Brat era is behind us. The “Rock Music” song is accompanied by the heavy strumming of guitars and the banging of drums and cymbals. Though the track is titled “Rock Music,” it still seems to carry the electric pop feel that listeners of Charli know and love, with less auto-tuney vocals than usual.
In the opening verse, Charli even refers to her hit “360” with the line, “Yeah, we’re so inspired / Basically all the time.” Ultimately, this song serves as the perfect farewell to the highly iconic Brat era. In the chorus, xcx repeats, “I think the dance floor is dead / So now we’re making rock music.” Goodbye to the hyperpop of Brat, and hello to whatever’s next for Charli!
Fans are divided on Charli’s first step into a new direction of music. Some fans are torn on whether whether “Rock Music” even classifies as rock itself, though Charli posted a video of herself filming the music video on social media, writing, “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.” Whether it’s the crunchy instrumentals or the step into a different genre, many fans have been expressing their very polarizing opinions.
I know I’ll be tuning into the other tracks that come during Charli xcx’s new rock-adjacent era — and keeping my eyes and ears open for, hopefully, an imminent album announcement.