Flush It Friday: A Runway That Goes Straight To Hell

Flush it Friday, New Stuff, Not Metal, Opinion

July 24, 2026

“Nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion, or film.”

I’ve made it no secret in my personal life that I am a Charli xcx megafan, originally getting into her music in the late 2010s. Releases like Vroom Vroom, Number 1 Angel, and Charli re-contextualized the Charli’s pop diva persona (as shown on features for Icona Pop and Iggy Azalea) into adventurous releases that walked between popular sounds and experimental influences that wouldn’t be completely adopted by the mainstream until years later. Working with PC Music affiliated producers like AG Cook and SOPHIE allowed for Charli to fully embrace a sense of ambition that lead to the formation of a dedicated cult fan base – even if that adoration failed to translate into a major pop breakthrough. After attempting to conform to mainstream expectations with the slightly underwhelming CRASH, Charli reached that major moment for herself by embodying her strengths and ethos on BRAT, a record synonymous with summer 2024. BRAT was the sound of Charli and her regular collaborators exploring the multifaceted nature of Charli as a person (the emotional highs and lows of fame and insecurity) through the lens of the club and party culture that helped make her, while also serving as a tribute to the decades of dance and electronic music that’s held so dear by many. Its success was a big moment for all involved parties – a win for artistic integrity and so-called “Club Classics” alike.

Yet, at least for me, the election of 2024 has tainted the memories of BRAT summer – with one endorsement tweet of “KAMALA IS BRAT” leading to the wholesale co-opting of the record’s aesthetic by a deeply unpopular Democrat ticket and campaign now remembered for how tone-deaf and unsuccessful it was. Kamala Harris, despite being the clear better choice for President from a harm-reduction standpoint, tanked her own run by ignoring/demeaning the demands of voters on the left and refusing to change course on the bipartisan effort to continue abetting the genocide of Palestinians. When all was said and done, it was clear that no amount of pop culture posturing could wash away the clear contempt and bloodlust that lied at the heart of the DNC, where Harris chose to promise the “world’s most lethal military” over committing to stand with downtrodden communities who would (and are) being affected most by a second Trump term. I certainly think, despite being from England and not America, it must have been disheartening to watch as your celebration of musical scenes developed by people of color and queer folk was gutted and worn like a costume by a political party that hungers only for power and death, regardless of lip service paid.

So, with the USA picking the stupider (and more evil) of two evils and all faith in establishment Democrats being flushed, we find Charli xcx gearing up to release what is most certainly going to be her most divisive album, Music, Fashion, Film. While this record (which should be out by the time you are reading this) was lead by a single titled “Rock Music,” I found the promo track most indicative of the headspace Charli has been in is “SS26” (short for the fashion season of Spring/Summer 2026), a sparse and simplistic cut of indie rock with some of the sharpest and most relevant lyrics of her career. If BRAT was a jubilant celebration of party and dance culture, this new song is bitter indignation of the superficiality that taints how our current age – with lines in the verses and pre-chorus pointing to hallmarks of internet age faux-authenticity; mentioning “notes app apolog[ies]” and political statements and family heritage being boiled down into promotional fodder for album rollouts. The commodification of who Charli is and/or is the central idea of the track, mirroring the way figures of power will use our shared cultural moments and joys into perverse advertisements and propaganda.

These themes are then wrapped up by a chorus juxtaposing the catwalk of a fashion show with the commercialization that struts down the runway wearing art (such as music, fashion, or film) as a costume. The runway “that goes straight to Hell” is all that exists, with all of us marching down to our own inevitable doom. For a single from an acclaimed pop diva, “SS26” is an incredibly bleak and pessimistic view of a time of great angst for those not in the seat of power, showing that the arts that we hope to frame as our salvation are no less products than the newest outfit from a French designer that you and I will never be able to afford. Seeing as the new record’s name comes from this idea in the song, I look forward to a record of introspection on Charli’s role in whatever semblance of a monoculture that still remains.

That was probably heavier than it had any right to be, sorry! Get fucking flushed, idiot!!!

I celebrated the fantastic return of Sex Prisoner on Cautionary Tale: