Charli XCX confirms John Cale collaboration and announces ‘Wuthering Heights’ album
Charli XCX has shared two pieces of huge news. Firstly, The Velvet Underground founder John Cale will feature on her new song, ‘House’, out on November 10th. Secondly, that her soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights will officially be a whole album.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the British artist behind the Brat phenomenon would undertake Wuthering Heights as her next big project. In the movie, Margot Robbie stars as the lead character of Catherine Earnshaw, opposite Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff.
Now, the ‘Apple’ singer has revealed that the project will take the form of an entire album. Charli broke the news via a statement on her Instagram Stories, which began, “I got a call from Emerald Fennell last Christmas asking whether I would consider working on a song for her adaptation of Wuthering Heights. I read the script and immediately felt inspired, so Finn Keane and I began working on not just one but many songs that we felt connected to the world she was creating.”
She then references the global phenomenon, Brat, sharing, “After being so in the depths of my previous album, I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite.”
The musician went on to explain the influences on the project: “When I think of Wuthering Heights I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.”
Changing tune, she then went on to reference another key influence on her music, the band The Velvet Underground.
She wrote, “A few years ago I watched Todd Haynes’ documentary about The Velvet Underground. As many of you know I’m a huge fan of the band and was really taken by the documentary. One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of The Velvet Underground.”
Charli explained that the key requirement was “that any song had to be both ‘elegant and brutal’.” She continued, “I got really stuck on that phrase. I wrote it down in my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.”
After revealing that she “kept coming back” to what phrase, she added, “One day whilst on tour in Austin, Finn and I went to the studio and wrote the bones for a song that would eventually become ‘House’. When the summer ended I was still ruminating on John’s words. So I decided to reach out to him to get his opinion on the songs that his phrase had so deeply inspired, but also to see whether he might want to collaborate on any.”
The Brit Award-winner continued, “We got connected, we spoke on the phone and wow… that voice, so elegant, so brutal. I sent him some songs and we started talking specifically about House. We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made me cry.”
The star finished off by expressing her excitement and joy, announcing that the song will officially be released on November 10th. The movie will hit cinemas on February 14th, 2026.
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