Photo credit: Boston Lynn Schulz

Returning from her Brat era, Charli XCX has released her first piece of “Rock Music” today with the release of an aptly titled single off her upcoming album. As Pitchfork reports, the new track represents the pop artist’s shift away from the sounds of the dance floor to instead infuse a more guitar-oriented inspiration into her work. A new video, directed by Aidan Zamiri, was also released for the track.

The black and white video comes from Zamiri, who had previously worked with Charli for her remix of “Guess” alongside Billie Eilish. The track is lead with guitars and harsher electronic sounds, but still blends them into a pop sound, just with a harsher and grungier sound. As the song itself declares, “I think the dancefloor is dead, so now we’re making Rock Music,” featuring a stuttering effect on the title drop itself. The visuals and lyrics alike show a sort of carefree lack for authority or standards alike. The track doesn’t run for very long, coming off less like a full-fledged release and more like a tongue-in-cheek sampler for the direction fans can expect Charli to take with the upcoming follow up to 2024’s Brat.

Charli’s highly anticipated seventh album and follow up to Brat doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet, though given the single release fans can hope to hear more from her soon. Earlier this year the singer also released the soundtrack album for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights.