By Gio Arteaga
I would like to preface this article by saying that I have yet to watch the new Wuthering Heights movie, so I have no context on what each song means within the film itself. With that being said, this is me trying to be unbiased when ranking each song.
“House featuring John Cale” ~ 2/10
Again, because I haven’t seen the film there is most likely part of the story I do not understand, but just based on the song itself it’s blank and a tad scary. This isn’t really a song, but rather a dialogue; on a side note, this song is part of a meme—”I THINK I’M GONNA DIE IN THIS… HOUSE DUNNN DUNNN DUNNN”—so for that reason it gets a three.
“Wall of Sound” ~ 5/10
When I first heard this song my first thought was that it was a little boring. I thought her vocals were more bland than her usual songs—but seeing that this is a soundtrack for a movie, I could understand why she needed to shift towards a more gothic-style song choice. Something super distinct about this song that I found funny were the sound effects that were sprinkled into random parts of the track.
“Dying for you” ~ 9/10
Okay wow… this is very CharliXCX coded. “Dying for you,” compared to other songs on the album, remains one of the more upbeat songs in an ocean of gothic-style music. If I had to guess, this song represents longing because each lyric very clearly illustrates wanting to be with one another. Her vocals on the song are extremely varied with her hitting higher notes while switching back into a serene voice; not to mention, the beat/music in the back goes perfectly with the song itself. Overall, the song is very strong and keeps the overall vibe of the soundtrack while still keeping an aspect of pop.
“Always Everywhere” ~ 6.2/10
My first impression of this song was that it sounds like it was recorded in a church; however, as the song progresses, the first part kind of bored me. The song starts very slow and I can totally see this being played for slow dancing, but as the song goes on, her vocals peak, and the song becomes louder while still remaining slow-paced. The song continues to have these vocal hills, but remains a very chill song overall. So while the song isn’t exactly for me, I can see someone using it to dance to or just to chill out.
“Chains of Love” ~ 10/10
“Chains of Love” remains one of my favorite songs on this album because of how almost empowering it feels to listen to. More so than “Dying for you,” this song REALLY conveys longing and being trapped in this cycle of love and feeling the punch of raw, unfiltered emotion. When I went to watch Zootopia 2 with my peer Emily Christensen, we saw the Wuthering Heights trailer in the previews, and “Chains of Love” was used; and after that, I knew I wanted to do this very review for this soundtrack, and that it was going to be amazing. Charli’s vocals are so varied and it feels like her vocals control the beat of the song rather than the beat leading her vocals. Overall this song is amazing and anyone reading should listen to this song.
“Out of Myself” ~ 4.5/10
When I listened to this song for the first time, I thought it was bland and didn’t possess that much depth; and if you listen to this song alone it will feel a little weird. However, in the context of the entire album, the song fits in uniquely. The horn is very repetitive, and gets annoying if you listen too much, but overall the song is mid-tier compared to everything else. Her vocals are a tiny bit more bland, and the song talks about losing one’s identity in relationships and portrays love as violent (which personally I do not agree with).
“Open Up” ~ N/A
I don’t believe it’s fair to give this background track a rating because it’s just the lyric “Open Up“ repeated eight times. However, just because it is on the album, I have a few comments. Namely, this is the most angelic voice I’ve heard a human being hit, and I feel like this could be a solid sleeping song.
“Seeing Things” ~ 8/10
“Seeing Things” is a very solid song and I find myself listening to this song alongside “Dying for you” and “Chains of Love” because, like the rest of the gothic-style album, it fits in very cleanly and is a good song. This is one of those songs where someone has to be in the mood to listen because this song paints the image in my head of a plane taking off, and looking out the window at the sunrise with the cold air hitting you square in the face. Her vocals are more upbeat against the background of the album and movie overall; the song talks about seeing things that were once there and co-dependence, but she does this in such an elegant way. Overall a good song and definitely worth listening to!
“Altars” ~ 6/10
Okay so through writing this article I’m finding that I’m not a huge fan of slower songs where the opening line literally takes up one fourth of the song, but alas let’s look at the song itself! Vocally, Charli is 100% there, she uses the phrase “one is not the loneliest number” a lot throughout the song—which is brilliant because the song itself explores one-sided love. By doing this, she employs this image of singularity, and thematically, it’s beautiful. However, the song is a little too slow for me personally which is why it’s lower in the running. Overall it’s a good song, just not my favorite.
“Eyes of the World featuring Sky Ferreira” ~ 8/10
Again… Not a huge fan when it comes to slow songs, and when “Eyes of the World featuring Sky Ferreira” begins, it’s not my favorite song; however, as the song progresses—around 45 seconds in—it becomes one of the most beautiful things that has ever entered my ears. Her belt in the song is so powerful, and has a similar feeling to “Chains of Love.” However, when this unknown Sky Ferreira steps onto the song…I don’t think I like the song as much anymore…Her vocals make the song sound so bland and flat. But after she gets off it gets amazing again. Overall, the song packs an emotional punch and is good if you’re angry.
“My Reminder” ~ 7/10
Having relistened to this song multiple times, this is probably the most “normal” song on the album with there being remnants of the gothic-style setup of the soundtrack. However, unlike the rest of the higher ranked songs, this song, while less gothic, isn’t as vocally challenging as all of the other songs. Her voice is amazing, and it reminds me of her older pop eras. Overall, it’s a good song and it’s definitely worth listening to; but compared to every other song, it’s way more simplistic than everything else.
“Funny Mouth” ~ 3/10
I’m so sad that I’m ranking anything on this album anything less than a five; however, this song is something that’s best fit for a movie background track, rather than an actual song. The song is frankly scary to listen to and builds a sense of anxiety. As I’ve previously stated…I dislike slow songs…And this song is very slow to start off with. I also want to add on the fact that there is a LOT of autotune on her voice that makes her sound very robotic; this isn’t a “bad” thing, however, for me personally it affects how I’m able to listen to it and, therefore, I can’t give the most accurate rating. Overall, the weakest song on the album but not the worst song out there.