Wuthering Heights by Charli xcx

Charli xcx Wuthering Heights

77
ChoruScore Critic consensus / 100

Released Feb 13, 2026 Atlantic Records

Established consensus 7 professional reviews Updated Oct 1, 2026

Broadly positive consensus

Charli xcx's Wuthering Heights casts a widescreen, gothic shadow over her pop instincts, turning cinematic orchestration and industrial textures into a darkly seductive soundtrack.

How ChoruScore works

Critics' Top Tracks

The songs critics returned to most

01

House featuring John Cale

7 critic mentions

“Opening song ‘House’ was also the first song to be released from the record – clanking, metallic electronics” — Clash Music
02

Dying for You

7 critic mentions

“Dying for You," the most pure pop track here, a rollicking kick drum and snare evokes” — Slant Magazine
03

Chains of Love

6 critic mentions

“the all consuming passion of "Chains of Love," the track used for the film’s official trailer” — Consequence
Full critic consensus

Charli xcx's Wuthering Heights casts a widescreen, gothic shadow over her pop instincts, turning cinematic orchestration and industrial textures into a darkly seductive soundtrack. Across professional reviews, critics point most insistently to the album's opener and its climactic mid-section as where Charli's flair for melodrama and hookcraft collide, suggesting that yes, Wuthering Heights delivers memorable, high-drama moments even as it courts risk.

The critical consensus, reflected in a 77.43/100 score across 7 professional reviews, praises searing standouts such as “House featuring John Cale”, “Chains of Love”, “Wall of Sound”, “Eyes of the World featuring Sky Ferreira” and “Dying for You”. Reviewers consistently note the record's cinematic, film-soundtrack ambitions - moors-core atmosphere, string-laden swells and industrial electronica - and single out songs that fuse classical strings with pop hooks. Critics praised John Cale's ominous presence and Sky Ferreira's venomous cameo as defining moments, while many reviews highlight how tracks like “Chains of Love” and “Dying for You” translate toxic obsession and romantic yearning into palpable, often bruising pop theatre.

Opinions diverge on pacing and cohesion: some critics celebrate Charli's maximalist, gothic reinvention as her most vividly realized persona-driven project since earlier darker works, while others find the album's second half repeats of mood and motif less compelling. Still, the consensus suggests that the best songs on Wuthering Heights make the record worth hearing for those seeking theatrical pop that balances nostalgia, experimentation and immediate hooks. For readers asking "is Wuthering Heights good" or "what are the best songs on Wuthering Heights", the professional reviews point squarely to the dramatic duets and orchestral ravers at the album's core as its chief rewards.

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

House featuring John Cale

7 mentions
100
03:15
2

Wall of Sound

5 mentions
100
02:24
3

Dying for You

7 mentions
100
03:02
4

Always Everywhere

6 mentions
100
03:03
5

Chains of Love

6 mentions
100
02:50
6

Out of Myself

5 mentions
76
02:19
7

Open up

4 mentions
78
01:26
8

Seeing Things

4 mentions
56
02:30
9

Altars

5 mentions
27
02:56
10

Eyes of the World featuring Sky Ferreira

6 mentions
100
03:43
11

My Reminder

5 mentions
25
03:33
12

Funny Mouth

3 mentions
67
03:33

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What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 12 critics who reviewed this album

85

Critic's Take

Charli xcx’s Wuthering Heights feels like a stormy, gothic triumph, where the best tracks - “House featuring John Cale”, “Wall of Sound” and “Out of Myself” - push her pop subversion into darker, more maximalist terrain. The review’s voice revels in distorted strings and drone-heavy miniatures, praising how “House featuring John Cale” lets wistful crashes meet harrowing menace while “Wall of Sound” and “Out of Myself” wear The Velvet Underground and Nine Inch Nails influences on their sleeves. There is admiration for the album’s ability to remain immediate and hook-driven even as it indulges abrasive textures, which makes these songs the best tracks on Wuthering Heights for listeners seeking both chart-worthy moments and gothic intensity.

Key Points

  • The best song is “House featuring John Cale” for its haunting, menacing production and prominent guest feature.
  • The album’s core strengths are its gothic textures and ability to fuse abrasive experimentation with sharp pop hooks.

Themes

gothic darkness synth experimentation pop subversion film soundtrack
Consequence logo

Consequence

Unknown
Unknown date
83

Critic's Take

Charli xcx leans into the film's lush eroticism on Wuthering Heights, making the best songs feel like cinematic set pieces. The middle section - especially “Dying for You”, “Always Everywhere” and the trailer-ready “Chains of Love” - is where the album soars, marrying orchestral swells to electro edge in a way that captures Cathy and Heathcliff's all-consuming passion. The ending tracks falter a touch, but the record's front-loaded drama makes it easy to name the best tracks on Wuthering Heights as those middle songs where Charli finds epic pop in tragic romance.

Key Points

  • The best song is "Chains of Love" because its trailer use and tortured-romance production make it the album's standout.
  • The album's core strengths are its sensual, gothic atmosphere and the middle section's orchestral-electro blend that captures tragic passion.

Themes

sensuality romance toxic passion gothic atmosphere voyeurism

Critic's Take

Rhian Daly's review reads like a fan of her early, darker pop, arguing that the record revisits the mood of True Romance but with sharper experience and teeth. Ultimately the album is recommended as a winter soundtrack of yearning and discontent, even if it might not spark a new cultural phenomenon.

Key Points

  • The album's core strengths are its cinematic gothic persona, dramatic lyrics about toxic obsession, and confident revisitation of earlier darker pop.

Themes

gothic romance toxic obsession cinematic persona yearning and discontent

Critic's Take

There is a clear sense that Charli xcx's Wuthering Heights finds its strongest moments in theatrical, gothic pop - songs like “Wall of Sound” and “Eyes of the World” tower as the album's best tracks, and “Chains of Love” and “Always Everywhere” keep the momentum cinematic. Robin Murray writes with a relish for the album's darkness and melodrama, calling many pieces "gorgeous" and "deliberately grotesque" while praising Charli's direct songwriting.

Key Points

  • The album's core strengths are its cinematic gothic production and Charli's direct, literate songwriting that balances gorgeous and grotesque.

Themes

gothic identity cinematic industrial distortion love/obsession

Critic's Take

Charli XCX takes a bold tonal leap on Wuthering Heights, and the best songs - like “Chains of Love” and “Funny Mouth” - show why she still commands pop drama with brutal elegance. Tafoya writes with a critic's relish, noting how the string arrangements give songs an uplift that barrels down into physicality, so the best tracks feel both vivid and dangerous. Overall the album is inventive and occasionally undone by pop conventionality, but its standout songs make the reinvention worthwhile.

Key Points

  • “Chains of Love” is best because it rebuilds Charli’s earlier grandeur with booming, true-romance scale production.
  • The album’s core strength is blending pop hooks with orchestral strings to create vivid, cinematic atmospheres.

Themes

obsessive attraction devotion and absence classical strings vs pop hooks gothic imagery

Critic's Take

Ultimately the album reads as a transitional, retrospective project that finds its clearest triumphs in those early, aggressively vivid tracks.

Key Points

  • The album’s core strengths are its dense, claustrophobic production and sharp, punchy lyricism that recall Charli xcx’s early sound.

Themes

nostalgia for early sound toxic love agony and dread cinematic soundtrack production opulence

Critic's Take

Charli xcx's Wuthering Heights thrives in its gothic grandeur and pop immediacy, with standout moments like “House” and “Open Up” delivering the album's most unforgettable emotions. The reviewer's voice savors the drama - calling the John Cale-assisted opener a "witchy, cello-laden darkwave concoction" while praising “Open Up” as the most romantic and devastating track. Yet the critique is measured and specific, noting how songs like “Seeing Things” and “Altars” are circumscribed by pop structures even as sweeping strings and production elevate much of the material. Overall, the best songs on Wuthering Heights are those that let the orchestration and Charli's warped vocals collide into cinematic, bodice-ripping moments.

Key Points

  • The interlude "Open Up" is the emotional centerpiece because it condenses the album's fatalistic heartache into under 90 seconds.
  • The album's core strengths are its cinematic strings, bold production collisions, and Charli's altered vocals that render a gothic, pop-forward soundtrack.

Themes

gothic grief romantic yearning cinematic orchestration hyper-pop vs. classic songwriting

Critic's Take

Charli xcx makes a deliberate left turn on Wuthering Heights, leaning into moors-core and Gothic-romantic drama with bruised tenderness and theatrical heft. Jon Dolan’s voice relishes the mood shifts, praising how songs like “Wall of Sound” and “Dying for You” trade hyper-pop gloss for dread and intimacy. The result reads like Charli’s most tradition-minded record, equal parts Kate Bush homage and modern pop transgression, which answers the question of the best songs on Wuthering Heights by pointing to those high-drama, vow-to-die moments.

Key Points

  • The album’s core strengths are its moors-core atmosphere, dramatic vocal commitments, and successful melding of Gothic tradition with pop textures.

Themes

Gothic romance moors-core dread and intimacy Eighties pop homage

Critic's Take

The review’s voice lingers on the album’s jagged strings and industrial drums, noting how tracks like “Dying for You” and “Funny Mouth” marry rave and atonal textures to pop smarts. It reads as praise that this soundtrack functions as more than a side-hustle, delivering some of the best tracks on Wuthering Heights while keeping her pop instincts intact.

Key Points

  • The album’s core strengths are its blend of adventurous, industrial textures with uniformly strong pop songwriting.

Themes

gothic atmosphere industrial/atonal textures pop songwriting amid experimentation romantic/toxic relationship narrative

Critic's Take

The review argues these best songs conjure Brontë’s terrible complexity without theatrical quotation marks, trading neon hyperpop for pixelated, violin-stung gothic modernity. Overall, the critic presents the album as emotionally direct and sonically daring, the best tracks proving both weird experimentation and irresistible hooks.

Key Points

  • The album’s core strength is its gothic atmosphere that marries classical strings with industrial electronica to realize Brontë’s emotional complexity.

Themes

gothic romance obsessive love industrial electronica historical conjuring madness/visions

Critic's Take

The review text contains only header metadata and no substantive commentary on Charli xcx's Wuthering Heights, so there are no best songs to identify. Because Ed Power's piece lacks descriptive content or track mentions, I cannot reliably state which tracks like "House featuring John Cale" or "Wall of Sound" are best. This absence prevents a faithful recreation of his voice about the album's highlights.

Key Points

  • No best song could be identified because the review text contains no discussion of individual tracks.
  • There is insufficient review content to assess the album's strengths or weaknesses.