Charli XCX has shared the first of what will apparently be many original songs for Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming Wuthering Heights movie. “House” is a collaboration with composer and Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale. The accompanying video was directed by Mitch Ryan, who also helmed Charli XCX’s belated “Party 4 U” clip earlier this year. Watch it below.
“A few years ago I watched Todd Haynes’ documentary about the Velvet Underground,” Charli XCX shared in a statement. “As many of you know I’m a huge fan of the band and was really taken by the documentary. One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of the Velvet Underground. That any song had to be both ‘elegant and brutal.’”
She continued, “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.… I sent him some songs and we started talking specifically about ‘House.’ We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made me cry.” Scroll down to read the whole thing.
Since releasing her album Brat last year, Charli XCX has become involved in several other film projects. She also pulled double duty as host and musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live. John Cale shared his last studio album, Poptical Illusion, in 2024, too, following it more recently with the companion project Mixology (Volume 1).
Wuthering Heights hits theaters on Saturday, February 14, 2026. Fennell’s adaptation of the famed Emily Brontë novel stars Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. The movie is scored by Anthony Willis, who also scored Fennell’s first two features, 2020’s Promising Young Woman and 2023’s Saltburn.
Revisit Quinn Moreland’s review “Todd Haynes’ Velvet Underground Documentary Breathes New Life Into a Beloved Band.”
