“What if we made a record with guitars?”: Charli XCX teases new “Lou Reed” rock direction for her next album

Could Charli XCX be about to reinvent herself as a rock star? That’s the teasing premise of a new video on her socials where the Grammy-winner outlines her most recent inspirations and asks her fans what they think she should try next.

Charli is, of course, currently on an expansive, staggered global tour, with a short break following her recent Australian appearances being the precursor to forthcoming dates in Mexico, before embarking on her first major US arena tour through April 2025. She then returns to Europe in advance of a huge UK summer gig, headlining the Lido festival in London’s Victoria Park on 14 June.

During her headline slot in last weekend of Australia’s Laneway Festival (taking place 6 through 16 February) – where she shared the bill with Remi Wolf, Beabadoobee and Clairo, among others – the recent Grammy winner joined Clairo on stage for a rendition of her 2019 hit, Sofia.

And the experience of working – albeit briefly – with Clairo on a markedly different sound to her familiar electronic onslaught, seems to have got Charli's creative juices flowing.

The pair have worked together previously with Clairo contributing to February 2017 from XCX’s eponymous 2019 album. This new – albeit single song – collab, however, has seen Charli fitting into Clairo’s frame for a change, and the experience seems to have had quite an effect. So much so that following her guest appearance the Brat star took to Instagram this week to float a radical new direction for her sound while canvassing opinion from her fans.

“I really had fun doing it and it got me thinking, what if we made a record with guitars or strings… or both?” Charli ponders in a new Instagram video. “Lou Reed era maybe? I dunno just saying…”

The song, Charli explains, had been a favourite of hers ever since she first heard it prior to its release. (Sofia had a prior life being a viral hit on TikTok, even going so far as to chart in the Billboard 100 prior to being officially released as a single – the third from Clairo’s 2019 debut studio album, Immunity.)

No more Club Classics?

Charli currently sits in an unusual position having been an established star since 2013’s debut album True Romance but only fully discovering global fame with the more aggressively electronic 2022 album Crash (her fifth), a sound she further refined for her true magnum opus, Brat – the instigator of 2024’s ‘Brat Summer’.

Having had so many styles and sounds pass under the bridge and with her last two albums focusing on dance-based electronica, it’s easy to see why the star is so comfortable to try something new. And while it’s easy to list the number of bands who’ve destroyed their careers by going too far in the wrong direction, Charli is one that only seems to thrive by taking bold and unexpected left-turns.

That desire to explore new territory is something that’s already been suggested by Finn Keane, one of Brat’s key co-producers and collaborators. Earlier this month the producer told Grammy.com that: “Chatting to Charli now, there is a desire in her to do the complete opposite thing again, which is very in keeping with her ethos.

“Some of the conversations we're having and music we've been playing around with the last couple of months have been completely the opposite. I love that spirit. It's the iconoclastic impulse to rebuild something completely different, to show that you actually could do this other thing, this whole other side of your artistry.

“In the months after finishing the remix album, any other musical discussion that has taken place has been kind of anti-Brat. I doubt that'll stick, but that's been a really interesting thing to observe and makes me very optimistic and excited about [what's next].”

Keep your eyes on Charli's Instagram for further teases and if you like ‘em, be sure to put your hands up.