Charli XCX’s "Wuthering Heights" fever dream
2/24/202648 min
Emerald Fennell's new adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic romance "Wuthering Heights" is the most talked-about film of the year. But for pop lovers, the soundtrack is the real event: Charli xcx, asked to write one song, ended up recording an entire album for the movie while in the middle of the BRAT tour. If BRAT gave people permission to be messy on the dance floor, this score gives permission to be messy in your souls. But Charli isn't the first artist to channel "Wuthering Heights" into music. Line up her hyperpop strings and cavernous reverb against Kate Bush's winding harmonies, a Hollywood orchestral score from 1939, and Ryuichi Sakamoto's unsettled piano, and something surprising emerges: the most operatic, passionate, Wuthering Heights-obsessed recording of them all might belong to someone you'd never expect.Songs discussed: Charli xcx “Everything is Romantic” Charli xcx “Always Everywhere” Charli xcx “House” (feat. John Cale) Hans Zimmer “Inception score” Charli xcx “Wall of Sound” Ike & Tina Turner “River Deep, Mountain High” Charli xcx “Chains of Love” Charli xcx “Out of Myself” Charli xcx “Funny Mouth” (co-written with Joe Curie) Alfred Newman “Wuthering Heights score (1939)” Ryuichi Sakamoto “Wuthering Heights score (1992)” Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights” Celine Dion “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsCharlie Harding· Host0:00
Support for the show comes from Anthropic, the team behind Claude. You know how sometimes a problem just grabs you? Like, you sit down thinking it's a quick thing, and then suddenly it's midnight. That's exactly the kind of mind Claude is built for, people who don't just want the answer, they want to chase the thing that's underneath it. Anthropic positions Claude as a thinking partner, not a search engine. It works through the problem with you, and it doesn't try to just wrap things up in an easy answer. Get started with Claude for free at claude.ai/switchedonpop. [wind blowing] Picture this: it's northern England, early 1800s. The fog is blowing over the moors. The wind howls. [wind howling] The rain beats your brow, further obscuring the view ahead, where through a rock outcropping in the distance is a shrouded figure. He moves closer to you. He's rough-hewn, but surprisingly handsome. He's wearing wool, a fine blazer with elbow patches, and dark-rimmed glasses.
Nate Sloan· Host1:00
Wait a minute.
Charlie Harding· Host1:01
[chuckles] It's a musicologist who has found great wealth. Heathcliff! [laughing] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. [laughing] And he's the object of your affection. Nothing can separate you. You and the musicologist are one being, traversing these endless moors together, away from the trappings of society, and you're soundtracked by these haunting sounds. Together, you will musicologically decode these sounds with Wuthering insights.
Nate Sloan· Host1:27
[laughing] [laughing] We've gotta press pause. I, I need a,