Pop
Charli xcx clarifies meaning of 'dance floor is dead' lyric after Madonna weighed in
Charli xcx has explained that her “dance floor is dead” lyric refers to her relationship with Brat, insisting she believes dance music is thriving.
Charli xcx has cleared up that she doesn't believe the "dance floor is dead" after all.
After the 33-year-old star declared just that in the song Rock Music, Madonna - who is releasing the dance album Confessions II soon - posted a series of disco‑themed images on Instagram with a caption many fans saw as a direct clapback: “If your Dance Floor feels dead Maybe you’re playing the wrong music.”
Charli has now clarified that the lyric is about her album Brat, and she very much believes the dance floor is alive, especially given her husband, George Daniel, runs a dance music label.
In a cover interview with Rolling Stone, she explained: “That lyric is very much about my relationship with Brat, and my personal experience with that album.
“My husband runs a dance-music label. There’s been such a wealth of incredible dance/electronic-adjacent records that have been coming out recently, whether it’s Slayyyter or Underscores or PinkPantheress. Dance music is in an incredible place.”
It was suggested Charli was making a diversion into rock music with the title of the song from her forthcoming album Music, Fashion, Film, but she insists that is not the case, in fact, she doesn't believe in genres.
Charli said: “Obviously, I know that there’s been a lot of conversation around me making a rock album, which is something that I never said.
“But to be honest, I’ve never thought about genre in a binary way. I find that to be a very old-school notion. I don’t even know what the genre is. It’s just me and A. G. Cook and Finn Keane, doing our thing.”
Charli insists every album she releases is the complete opposite of its predecessor.
She said: “All of my albums work in opposites.
“They repel against each other, and that’s the connective tissue.
“I knew when I was making it that I was never going to make that record again.
“It’s not creatively rewarding for me to make the same thing twice.”
The Von Dutch singer has previously admitted she felt "creatively drained" after the whirlwind that was 2024's Brat.
She said: “I was really, really ready to peace out and take a break and not make music.
“I felt very creatively drained and not inspired to write anything new. Then suddenly, inspiration came."
But she had a new inspiration, film, with the star having taken on several projects.
As well as the Brat mockumentary, The Moment, she worked on the Wuthering Heights soundtrack, and landed roles in the drama Erupcja, I Want Your Sex, The Gallerist, and Faces of Death.
As for the future, Charli feels "free" to do whatever she wants.
She explained: “It’s funny the way that success can cage you, but I’ve experienced such a wide range of success and failure.
“For the people who knew me before Brat, they know the ebbs and flows of my process, and I understand the ebbs and flows of pop music and pop culture. So I feel relatively free in creating whatever I’ll do next.”
Music, Fashion, Film is released on July 24.
