Charli XCX has lifted the lid on another vinyl-exclusive cut from her current album cycle, with 'Playboy Bunny' arriving as the B-side to recent single '
SS26'.
The release continues her revived approach of pairing A-sides with their own dedicated flip sides, harking back to the pre-streaming era. 'Playboy Bunny' follows the same model used for previous single '
Rock Music', which was accompanied by 'I Keep On Thinking Bout You Every Single Day And Night'.
While 'SS26' is expected to land on her next studio album, 'Playboy Bunny' will not. Instead, the track is available solely on the 7" vinyl pressing and through her "b.sides" Instagram account.
Outlining the thinking behind the format in a video posted to that account, Charli explained: "The B-sides are sort of like coupled with some of the songs that are coming out ahead of the album. The reason that they're paired together, these two songs, are because, in ways, they're totally opposite from each other, and that is find of the main point of them."
"It's sort of a mirror…there are specifically sonic things about it that are extremely opposite to 'SS26' and I think that's what made it a good B-side, a good pair," she added.
Built on sampled, jagged guitars and distorted vocals, 'Playboy Bunny' arrives with an accompanying video filmed in Paris one day after the 'SS26' shoot. Of that session, Charli noted: "Was honestly v hungover lol."
As with its predecessor, 'Playboy Bunny' looks set to remain off streaming services, though Charli has previously suggested fans "rip the audio" from the Instagram page where the earlier B-side appeared.
News of the new album was confirmed by her team last month, and a subsequent British Vogue interview offered an early lyric: "I think the dance floor is dead, so now we're making rock music." That line fuelled chatter about a heavier sonic shift, although Charli has since clarified, "I never said I was making a rock album."
The grungy video for 'Rock Music' saw her assemble a makeshift band featuring A.G. Cook, Finn Keane (previously known as Easyfun) and her husband, The 1975's George Daniel.
Each of the four new tracks marks a step away from the club-focused world of 'Brat', and they arrive in the wake of her soundtrack work for Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights. Outside music, Charli has scored the A24 film Mother Mary, which stars Anne Hathaway, fronted her own mockumentary The Moment, appeared in the romance Erupcja, and signed on for fantasy project 100 Nights Of Hero. She also turned up as a fictionalised version of herself in TV series Overcompensating, and has joined Supergirl actor Milly Alcock in an upcoming horror film helmed by Takashi Miike.
On the live front, she is set to make her headline debut at Reading & Leeds in August, topping the bill alongside Fontaines D.C., Raye, Florence + The Machine, Dave and Chase & Status.
