• Charli xcx dropped her new song and music video “SS26” on May 21, directed by the duo Torso
• The video is staged as a Paris runway show and packed with fashion insiders, from Carine Roitfeld to Anthony Vaccarello
• “SS26” was produced by A.G. Cook and Finn Keane, who co-wrote the song with Charli
• The track is the second preview of her upcoming seventh studio album, following “Rock Music”
• Charli was recently named a YSL Beauty ambassador, adding real-world context to the fashion-world casting

Charli xcx has found her version of the Met Gala — and it goes straight to hell. The pop star dropped her new song and music video “SS26” Thursday night (May 21), and if “360” was her downtown It-girl moment, this one belongs entirely to the fashion industry’s inner sanctum.

Directed by Torso — the creative duo of Miodrag Manojlović and Lukas von Haller, working from a concept by Charli herself — the video is staged as a high-fashion runway presentation, complete with front-row legends, backstage chaos, a catwalk stumble worthy of Sex and the City, and, eventually, a dressing room explosion. It’s glamorous, it’s nihilistic, and it’s very much on brand.

The lyrics set the tone immediately: “Spring Summer ’26 / When the world is gonna end, no hope for any of it / Yeah, we’re walking on a runway that goes straight to hell / Nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion, or film.” Former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld opens the video from the front row with a line that doubles as the whole thesis: “Fashion won’t save us. But let’s go on the runway and walk.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=twLhSqabby0%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Charli also uses the second verse to take a swipe at the cancel-culture news cycle with a wink: “I was hacked, it got taken out of context, obviously / But I didn’t do it, even if I did, wrote a really good notes app apology.” It’s the kind of self-aware pop lyric that only works when the person singing it has actually lived through the machine — and she has.

The Guest List Is the Whole Point

If you know fashion, you’ll spend the entire video pausing to place faces. This isn’t the brat-era downtown crew of Julia Fox, Gabbriette, Rachel Sennott, and Alex Consani — though that “360” cast was its own perfect moment. “SS26” goes deeper into the industry itself: the people who actually make fashion happen, not just wear it.

Alongside Roitfeld, the video features supermodel Debra Shaw and Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello — notable given that Charli was recently appointed a YSL Beauty ambassador. PR powerhouse Lucien Pagès is there. So is legendary runway sound producer Michel Gaubert (the man responsible for the sonic identity of Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel shows) alongside his partner Ryan Aguilar.

Then there’s the deeper cut crowd: indie designers Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø of August Barron (plus their PR David Siwicki), Abraham Ortuño Perez of Abra, Dan Sablon (creative director of Zadig & Voltaire, whose clothes Charli wore in the “Rock Music” video), model and director Farida Khelfa, designer Gian Gisiger, creative consultant Nhu Duong and her baby Deva, producer Patrik Sandberg, stylist and model Victoria Sekrier, Supreme’s Zac Ching, filmmaker Loïc Prigent, and La Watchparty’s Lyas. Consider it a partial directory of fashion’s most connected people — the kind you only know if you’re already in the room.

Singer Abra also makes a cameo, continuing her place in Charli’s extended creative universe.

The Buildup Was Very Charli

She teased the song earlier this week with a Substack post that read like either song lyrics or a fashion manifesto — turns out it was the former. “Think my politics could work as a press strategy,” she wrote, “And my heritage could give me quite the USP / Can’t hide the fact I’d rather take the easy road.” She also posted a flier on socials inviting fans to “attend the presentation of Charli xcx SS26 directed by Torso,” treating the drop like an actual show invitation.

Before the official video premiered, she hosted a 30-minute “Pre Show” on YouTube — trying on outfits, showing off pieces from designers she’s been wearing lately, including Lou de Bètoly, which she wore to the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival. It was the kind of behind-the-scenes warmth that makes her fanbase feel genuinely included in whatever she’s building.

“SS26” was produced by A.G. Cook and Finn Keane, who both co-wrote the song with Charli — the same team behind “Rock Music,” released two weeks ago as the first preview of her still-untitled seventh studio album.

Where the New Album Fits

“Rock Music” announced a pivot away from the dance-floor sound that defined Brat, with Charli singing, “I think the dance floor is dead / So now we’re making rock music” — a line that caught enough attention to draw a response from Madonna, who posted on Instagram this week: “If your Dance floor feels dead, maybe you’re playing the wrong music,” ahead of her own dance album Confessions II arriving July 3.

Charli has been characteristically unbothered about the discourse. “If you get me, you get me and if you don’t, you don’t. and thats ok,” she posted on X. She’s also clarified that “rock music” was never a genre declaration — just a vibe. “A video of me making a song called ‘rock music’ that is not actually rock music,” she captioned behind-the-scenes footage from the recording session, “which is funny because I never said I was making a rock album.”

Both “Rock Music” and “SS26” will appear on the upcoming album, which still has no title or release date. Given that she’s barely stopped since Brat — the world tour, the film The Moment, and earlier this year the Wuthering Heights soundtrack featuring collaborations with John Cale and Sky Ferreira — it’s safe to assume the pace isn’t slowing down.

“Nothing’s gonna save us,” she sings. And yet here she is, walking the runway anyway.

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