Charli xcx gets candid about Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights in her revealing Substack confession

Charli xcx is in her "running on the spot in a dream" era. And apparently, that dream looks like a gothic British moor thanks to Emerald Fennell. In a Substack post on November 12, 2025, Charli opens up in a vulnerable long-form gush, which is rather unusual for her. She wrote about burnout and the message that yanked her out of post-brat depletion into a Wuthering Heights fever.

If you imagine Charli wearing platform boots and pushing herself through the mud like Cathy, you're not too far off. The singer admits that she felt uninspired and as though she was "squeezing blood from a stone" after giving us the gift of brat. The success of the album left her feeling empty, like a parent trying to keep a very popular baby alive when she wants to redefine herself and take a nap.

The twist comes next through a message in December 2024 from an unknown number, which turns out to be Emerald Fennell.

Then starts the Charli Renaissance!

How did Charli xcx become part of Wuthering Heights?

Charli describes how Emerald Fennell peeked into her phone like a ready-made Oscar-winning godmother when she got a random text. Fennell was thinking of Wuthering Heights, even though the two had only met once.

Charli devoured the script despite the damp and dark 4 p.m. vibe in London, which, to be honest, Emily Brontë would have approved of. And all of a sudden, Charli felt inspired once more, as if a Victorian ghost had been let in.

Fennell asked Charli if she wanted to write a song. "Why not make an album?" Charli shot back. Because, well, after being recharged, Charli runs. Wuthering Heights was everything that her life wasn't at the time: raw, tortured, wild, sensual, British, grammatical (her words!), and thankfully with no sunglasses.

Charli tried some persona-driven music-making by writing songs based on the feelings in the script rather than her internal monologue. She seemed to have forgotten that she still had a creative limb that works this way.

Charli xcx was inspired by John Cale

Charli discloses that she and Finn Keane based the album on the Velvet Underground documentary's John Cale quote,

"Everything must be 'elegant and brutal.'"

That phrase became their North Star. They recorded on the road in rented studios between shows. One early track (House) started as a mysterious idea until months later Charli xcx realised they needed John Cale himself.

She wasn’t confident they’d get a hold of him, though. Then another unknown number appeared because apparently, Charli’s creative life depends on strangers texting her! Cale agreed to send her a poetic recitation. Charli xcx and Finn listened to that and concluded that it was brilliant.

Charli xcx describes the moment as unexpected and dreamlike, just like how the entire project is. She admits she doesn’t even know if this counts as a "Charli XCX album," nor does she care. For her, it’s a creative resurrection!

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Wuthering Heights will be released in theaters on February 13, 2026.

NEXT UP: Wuthering Heights trailer teases Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi setting the screen on fire with their chemistry in this romantic drama

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