“The wuthering heights album is 100% a sister of true romance <3,” shared pop innovator Charli xcx on X, days before she dropped her seventh studio album, Wuthering Heights, written for Emerald Fennell’s feature film of the same name.

The 12-track project – featuring previously released songs like “Wall of Sound,” “Chains of Love,” and opener “House” with John Cale – is steeped in gothic-romantic intensity, mirroring the film’s moody onscreen drama. On early listens, its lineage to Charli’s 2013 debut, True Romance, is most apparent on tracks such as “My Reminder” and “Out of Myself”, where familiar chord progressions and synths resurface, now haunted by crashing, aching strings.

Charli announced her involvement with the film last year, explaining that the darker themes of Wuthering Heights “felt like the perfect counterpoint and pivot away from” her culture-sweeping 2024 album Brat. A far cry from club-ready territory, it’s a project that sets out to – and succeeds in – capturing a more brooding side of her discography. We’d even go as far as calling it a sibling to 2019’s self-titled Charli, sharing the same deep-cut lyricism and a returning collaboration with Sky Ferreira — this time on “Eyes of the World”.

While some fans rush to Wuthering Heights screenings for release day, others have long been catching Charli xcx songs slipped in cinema – from the sapphic teen comedy Bottoms, which she soundtracked, to Home, the animated story of a lovable misfit purple alien featuring track “Red Balloon”, and the shimmering track “Kingdom”, a collaboration with Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon for the The Hunger Games: Mockingjay soundtrack curated by collaborator Lorde.

While some fans rush to Wuthering Heights screenings on release day, others have long been catching Charli xcx’s songs in cinema – from the sapphic teen comedy Bottoms, which she soundtracked, to the animated film Home, and her collaboration with Simon Le Bon for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.

Below, we deep-dive into five more times the popstar soundtracked the big screen – and, as always with Charli xcx, expect the unexpected.

“HOT GIRL” FOR BODIES BODIES BODIES

Dare we call it Brat’s blueprint? The cold-whisper rap track for the slasher film – featuring a star-studded cast including Rachel Sennott and Myha'la – is packed with double entendres and razor-sharp wordplay. Standout lines include, “I’m goin’ skiing even when the slopes are closed / ’Cause I’m so hot with snow up my nose,” and “I know Tony, I’m cutting the line.” The track recalls Charli xcx’s verse on Brooke Candy’s 2019 “XXTC” – only this time, it’s coke, not molly.

“EXPLODE” FOR THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE

Holy side quest: Charli xcx as the voice of Willow in The Angry Birds Movie. Back in 2016 – that’s post-Sucker and pre-Pop 2 – Charli not only voiced the shrill, blue, striped-beanie-wearing bird, but also recorded an original song for the film, “Explode.” Rumoured to be a Sucker-era spin-off, the track is packed with the same saccharine hooks and chant-along chorus that defined her early pop phase. 

“MISS U” FOR 13 REASONS WHY

13 Reasons Why may have left many viewers emotionally rattled, but it did produce one Charli xcx ballad: “Miss U.” The sombre, synth-heavy song has lyrics co-written by Noonie Bao (the same talent behind Brat’s “Apple”) layered over a dance-floor beat. While recorded around the same time as her 2019 album Charli, the track didn’t make the final cut. 

“SPEED DRIVE” FOR THE BARBIE MOVIE

Before she was green, she was magenta. “Speed Drive” is a bubblegum, pedal-to-the-floor pop rush that soundtracked Barbie’s box-office domination before tearing through Charli xcx’s festival and headline setlists. Produced by longtime collaborator Finn Keane (aka EASYFUN), the track is the latest addition to her ever-growing car canon – from “Vroom Vroom” to Crash to “White Mercedes.”

In her own words: “literally can’t believe I name checked van gogh, voltaire, Devon Lee Carlson and barbie all in one song. that’s genius.” Shout out, too, to the club-primed Jamesjamesjames remix.

“BOOM CLAP” FOR THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

If there’s one Charli xcx soundtrack moment that eclipsed them all in terms of breakout, it’s the inescapable “Boom Clap,” written for The Fault in Our Stars. For anyone who wasn’t already blasting True Romance through tangled earphones on a cracked iPhone 5, this was the entry point into the XCX universe, and the song that gave countless angels their wings.

Complete with side-swept fringe, Sucker-red lipstick, and a black velvet choker, the video cuts between Charli drifting along Amsterdam’s canals and scenes from The Fault in Our Stars, with Hazel and Gus locked in their terminal teenage romance. If nothing else, it probably did wonders for the city’s tourism economy.

It’s also a track that stays referenced: “cause we made ’em boom clap” on the “B2B” remix, “place went boom, boom, boom, boom, clap” on “Spring Breakers,” not to mention the iconic line from Overcompensating: “You think I want to play fucking ‘Boom Clap’ in a fucking college? Are you joking?”

Wuthering Heights is out now