Here’s How David Cronenberg Ended Up on Charli xcx’s ‘Music, Fashion, Film’

Over the past year, Charli xcx has immersed herself in the film world.

Last year, she starred in four feature films, including Pete Ohs’ Erupcja, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last September. This year, her name is attached to four more projects, including her mockumentary film, The Moment, released in January. She also crafted the atmospheric soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights and most recently directed her music video for "Camera," featuring French actor Vincent Cassel.

Her love of film has trickled into her new album, titled Music, Fashion, Film. On the closing track, “No One Lasts Forever,” Charli tapped Canadian director David Cronenberg as a featured artist — the only one on the 11-track album.

The song begins with Charli detailing the aftermath of a fun night in Paris, while grappling with her rise in fame over the past two years. While the parties are fun, the scrutiny of her character isn’t — but ultimately these feelings are fleeting. “And I know deep down that it's here and now / 'Cause nothing's gonna last forever,” she sings.

That’s when Cronenberg comes in. The legendary body horror director's inclusion on the track is a snippet from an hour-long conversation between him and Charli. “I went to Toronto to sit down with him and record him,” she told music station Triple J. “We recorded a conversation for an hour, and we kind of chose the parts that felt most related to the song.”

While it didn’t all make the cut, Charli explained that the entire conversation was “so interesting,” and that she could “listen to him talk forever.”

“I feel very happy that he’s a part of the record,” she continued. “I think he has a really interesting perspective on legacy and on art and artists. I really wanted him to be a part of this song because I knew that he would speak so effortlessly about it.”

Cronenberg’s feature on the song is very eerie, as he seems to explain a near-death experience.

“As I was lying there on the sidewalk, I did not think about art at all. I thought about people, I thought about life.” He continued: “Yes, some artists have created art that has survived thousands of years… But experientially, for them, they are dead, they are gone,” later stating that “Oblivion is freedom.” The last two minutes of the song end the album on a haunting note as Cronenberg repeats the same phrase: “They are dead, they are gone, no one lasts forever.”

During the album rollout, Charli told Interview Magazine that “Card Declined” might be one of Cronenberg’s favourite songs on the track, alongside his feature on the closing track. When asked her favourite films by the director, she couldn’t pick one: “Maps to the Stars. Or The Dead Zone. Or Eastern Promises. Or Crash.”

While the pair met for the first time last year, Charli’s relationship with Cronenberg is longstanding. Her 2022 album, Crash, shares a name with the director’s 1996 film.

Much of Music, Fashion, Film unpacks Charli’s complex feelings about celebrity, insecurity and longevity. Its themes come in the wake of the singer’s post-Brat fame. Her sixth studio album catapulted her into mainstream fame, alongside the term “brat summer” and the specific lo-fi lime green aesthetic. It became her highest-charting album in Canada, peaking at No. 2 and spending 66 weeks on the chart.

Listen to “No One Lasts Forever,” featuring David Cronenberg below.