Charli xcx’s cinematic score fuels Wuthering Heights’ fantastical interpretation
The pop superstar follows in the footsteps of Daft Punk and Prince as mainstream artists to create film scores.
Photo: Paul Kooiker
Following the mainstream breakthrough of BRAT as Charli xcx’s critical and commercial peak, the aftermath remained in a sense of limbo, similar to her self-portrayal of an artist steeped under the pressure of expectation in satirical mockumentary, The Moment.
As an artist characterised by her flexibility and refusal to conform, Charli broke through evoking club-focused electropop with BRAT, and is now challenging a new creative direction in the long dormant terrain of soundtracks. Inspired by the Emily Brontë novel of the same name, Emerald Fennel’s erotic, fantastical interpolation of Wuthering Heights is seamlessly suited to a score by Charli xcx, whose forward-leaning pop approach grazes the abject horror of the original source material.
The opening track, House, marks a stark departure from Charli’s previous sound and collaborative choices by featuring John Cale of The Velvet Underground. The song distils unease, trading the electronic textures of her earlier work for a gothic orchestral arrangement, over which Cale recites an ominous spoken-word poem. Cale’s performance is elegantly brutal, with his stylised, gravelly tone painting the character’s enclosed mindset within the beautiful Wuthering Heights: “I’m a prisoner to live for eternity”.
Charli balances his measured tone with a long, corrosive howl: “I think I’m gonna die in this house”. Dramatic, post-industrial strings screech alongside her heavily auto-tuned vocals and layers of distorted feedback, pushing the song to sheer breaking point. The result differs from the typical track, defined by the inevitability of crafting a score of suspense and unease for the dark emotional core of the narrative.
House stands somewhat as the radical outlier among the record’s sound; the following tracks mirror similar sounds to Charli’s debut, as she described it as a “Sister album to True Romance”.
Dying for You continues Emerald Fennel’s subjective take on the self-annihilating romance between Cathy and Heathcliff, with themes depicting their deep infatuation as transcending love itself to something more possessive and tragic. Dying for You builds behind a persistent kick drum and violin, showcasing the character’s deliberate disregard for social cues and norms in spite of their sadomasochistic bond: “All the pain and torture that I went through / All makes sense to me now, I was dying for you”.
Out of Myself continues the trend of referencing past work, with the layered, cluttered mixes and sharp instrumentation replicating her critically acclaimed self-titled 2019 record. On Wuthering Heights, Charli frames lyrical content deceptively to relate to the novel’s lustful storyline; Out of Myself seems more introspective. This is perceived with lines like: “Forbidden fruit brought me back to life / You take me out of myself, who am I?”, seemingly relating to the mounting pressure and expectation left after Charli’s 2024 success.
Given that this is a soundtrack interpolating one of the 19th century’s most revered literary works, expectations naturally lean toward lyrical depth and poetic precision. At times, Charli xcx falls short of matching the weight of Wuthering Heights, with several lines of Seeing Things veering into repetition and melodic simplicity rather than the gothic complexity associated with Emily Brontë’s narrative.
Certain hooks prioritise immediacy over nuance, favouring refrains that feel closer to contemporary pop structure than literary adaptation. Yet, the framing of the project with the deliberate usage of quotation marks around “Wuthering Heights” signals that neither the film nor its soundtrack aims for strict loyalty. Instead, both operate as distinctly modern reinterpretations. In this context, the repetitive lyrics and melodies feel less like shortcomings and more like strategic choices, designed to align the narrative with present-day pop sensibilities.
By embracing accessibility and current sonic trends, Charli reshapes Brontë’s tragic romance into a contemporary retelling that privileges emotional immediacy over ornate lyricism, ultimately adapting the source material to the expectations and listening habits of modern audiences.
Wuthering Heights classes far from an extension of the BRAT era, rather a reminder of Charli’s refusal to be classified into one creative box, following in the footsteps of legacy acts like Prince for Batman and Daft Punk for Tron. Instead of chasing the same formulaic tropes of BRAT, Charli reshapes her sound to suit the film’s interpreted narrative, composing a record deliberately crafted to embrace the gothic atmosphere and cinematic nature of Emerald Fennel’s provocative Wuthering Heights.
Wuthering Heights is out now via Atlantic Records.
