Of Monsters And Men On Their Expansive Career & The Music Industry: "I Can Really See How Bizarre A Lot Of It Is"

Charli XCX Steps Into The Mosh Pit With New Single 'ROCK MUSIC'

Mary Varvaris

Charli teased the release of 'ROCK MUSIC' with a video in which she stomped on an electric guitar in high heels.

Charli xcx
Charli xcx(Credit: Aidan Zamiri)
More Charli XCX Charli XCX

Charli xcx has entered a new era, stepping off the dancefloor and into the mosh pit with her new single, the aptly titled ROCK MUSIC.

The British singer, songwriter and producer teased the single earlier today, unveiling a short clip in which she stomped on an electric guitar in high heels.

She snapped the guitar’s body and neck, destroying the instrument. Did she aim to destroy, ahem, rock music with her take on the genre? Not even close.

ROCK MUSIC takes listeners to the indie sleaze days of LCD Soundsystem and The Strokes blaring from the speakers, with spiky guitars layered alongside Charli’s chopped-up vocals. Plus, there are some electronics in case any fans were worried that she was totally ditching her musical roots.

The true power of ROCK MUSIC, however, lies in its eye-catching music video.

In black-and-white segments, a television is thrown out the window, Charli smokes cigarettes, struts her way across New York City, sits in a limousine, and performs with a band. In coloured sections of the video, she leads a mosh pit, smokes multiple cigarettes at once and engages with fellow rock music fans.

Check out the music video below.

Last month, Charli xcx teased her surprise musical turn in an interview with British Vogue, where she cited one of the lyrics from her new song: “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.”

She added, “If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad. What’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on that could be.”

Addressing fans’ concerns, Charli assured them that she’s not abandoning the music she’s known for. Sharing a clip on Instagram, she revealed that it would be “fun” to make a song called Rock Music, but not necessarily take things further than that.

“A video of me making a song called ‘rock music’ that is not actually rock music which is funny because i never said i was making a rock album,” she wrote.

ROCK MUSIC follows the release of Charli xcx’s recent Wuthering Heights album, which was spearheaded by her collaboration with John Cale, the ominous single, House.

But in 2024, Charli xcx went from being a cult figure to one of the biggest pop stars in the world following the release of her album, Brat, and its sister remix album, Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat, the latter of which contained tracks featuring Billie Eilish and Lorde.

In February 2025, Charli headlined Laneway Festival in Australia and New Zealand, giving her devoted fans Brat Summer in both countries. She was joined by Clairo, beabadoobee, Remi Wolf, Olivia Dean, and many others.