What Charlie did next. In a moment that feels both pioneering and genius, Charlie XCX has unveiled her reinterpretation of Wuthering Heights, featuring none other than John Cale of the Velvet Underground. It’s a collaboration that reads like a collision of worlds, rock meeting the darkly textured avant-garde of Cale’s decades-spanning talent.

The release coincides with the buzz around the new cinematic adaptation of Emily Brontë’s masterpiece, set to hit UK theatres in the U.S. on February 13, 2026. In a way, this track is its perfect sonic companion. Where Brontë’s novel whispers of storm-lashed moors and uncontainable desire, XCX’s voices cut through the aether with electrifying intensity, while Cale’s atmospheric arrangements anchor the piece in a haunting, almost gothic elegance. The result is mesmerising, a modern classic that both honours and redefines the emotional landscape of music today.

The idea for the collaboration, Charlie told Rolling Stone, was sparked years ago when she watched the 2021 Todd Haynes documentary The Velvet Underground. “One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of the Velvet Underground,” she wrote in a note to fans. “‘Any song had to be both elegant and brutal.’ I got really stuck on that phrase. I write it down on my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.”

“When working on music for this film, ‘elegant and brutal’ was a phrase I kept coming back to,” she continued. “One day whilst on tour in Austin, Finn [Keane] 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.” as quoted in Rolling Stone.

This is a dialogue across generations, a daring exploration of what happens when pop audacity meets experimental legend. XCX’s fearless delivery, layered with Cale’s signature cello and ethereal sensibilities, creates a soundscape that is at once cinematic and intimate, raw yet meticulously crafted.

In an era where collaborations often feel transactional and AI generated, this one feels pioneering. It’s a testament to the enduring power of artistic risk-taking and the beauty that emerges when contemporary edge meets timeless craftsmanship. The video is also simply stunning too, reminiscent of NIN’s Perfect Drug meeting Yves Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello in a horror-movie forest cabin. Art, music, literature, and emotion intertwine. The kind of collaboration that redefines possibility.

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Image: John Cale and Charli XCX, photo by Henry Redcliffe