John Cale on Charli xcx Album Cover With Scorsese
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- John Cale appears on the black-and-white cover art for Charli xcx's upcoming album Music, Fashion, Film, out July 24, sitting in a kitchen alongside Martin Scorsese and Marc Jacobs — each icon representing one element of the album's title
- Cale had never met Scorsese or Jacobs before the shoot, calling the gathering a 'surreal cultural compendium' and crediting improvisation as 'the critical ingredient to fostering comfort and connection in the company of greatness'
- Cale collaborated with Charli on 'House,' featured on the soundtrack to Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, describing the songwriting as a 'methodical theatrical approach' rather than a typical songwriting perspective
- Cale said he first connected with Charli by phone, recalling that 'anyone who works fast and pushes hard keeps me interested' and calling her 'fearlessly' built with a protective creative 'fortress'
- Cale revealed he is already writing a new piece with Charli in mind — 'an operatic stream of conscious vocal' — telling the magazine, 'I'm determined to find the next layer with her'
- Cale approached the 'House' lyrics as a meditation on the constraints women face adapting historical novels, saying he 'needed elegance to underwrite the emotion' and landed on the line 'In every room I hear silence'
Why it matters: The Cale-Charli pairing bridges a six-decade generational gap between avant-garde rock's founding era and contemporary pop, with Cale's explicit intention to write more work for her signaling a sustained creative partnership rather than a one-off cameo.
Ask SkimNews
