Charli XCX Shifts to Rock for Eighth Album xcx8

Charli XCX, the British pop artist known for her 2024 album Brat, revealed in a recent interview with British Vogue that her forthcoming eighth studio album marks a significant shift toward rock music. The project, temporarily titled xcx8, moves away from the electronic and dance elements that defined her previous work, with the singer stating, "I think the dance floor is dead ... so now we're making rock music."

The 33-year-old artist, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, explained that continuing in a dance-oriented vein after Brat's success would have been emotionally challenging. "If I'd made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad," she told Vogue's Laura Snapes during a studio session in West London, where she previewed several tracks. Instead, Charli sought to reinvent her sound by exploring rock through her own lens, emphasizing a version that avoids macho stereotypes. "What's interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on rock could be," she said. The album ditches her signature Auto-Tune for rawer vocals, incorporating heavily processed guitars, queasy feedback warps, and scuffed melodies to...