STACK #261 July 2026

MUSIC FEATURE

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FLOWER POWER W hen asked to explain why she called her new album Petal , Ariana Grande described the record as “something that is full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging”. Yep, despite the pretty title, this album sees it’s my own monsters in my own head, external voices, things that no longer serve me,” she continued. “I could be talking about one thing, sharing something, and people could use it however they want and apply it to their own lives.” The album follows Ariana’s Wicked We examine the Grande design of Ariana’s eighth studio album. CHART FACT Petal by Ariana Grande is out Jul 31 via Universal

build the strength to be able to do that,” she told Interview magazine. “I think it just held some traumas for me before, and I feel those dissipating, and that is such an extraordinarily beautiful thing.” And after a run of chart toppers, the 32-year-old star didn’t feel she had to play nice anymore. “This kind of just feels like, f-ck it,” she smiles. Jeff Jenkins

Ariana Grande has had five number one albums in Australia, as well as the Wicked: For Good soundtrack, which also topped the charts.

the American superstar dig deep. “It’s a little feral,” Ariana reveals. “It’s definitely from

adventure, which saw her become a star on the big screen. She says

Ariana Grande

making movies has helped her music. “I’ve just been

Ariana wrote Petal ’s first single, Hate That I Made You Love Me , with Swedish hitmakers Ilya and Max Martin. She calls it, “One of my favourite songs I’ll ever write.” HOT COLLAB

a place I’ve been maybe too shy or polite to tap into before.

taking baby steps towards healing my relationship to music and touring, and I think my time with Glinda and with acting really helped me

“It’s kind of about breaking up with all different kinds of negative attachments, whether

BRAT NO MORE

Music, Fashion, Film by Charli XCX is out Jul 24 via Inertia

Charli XCX follows the Brat summer with her surprising seventh studio album.

H ow do you follow an album that defined an entire summer? Well, if you’re British superstar Charli XCX, you don’t repeat yourself. “So, I made an album and it’s really different from the last one,” the 33-year-old

Charli previewed the record with the first single, Rock Music , declaring: “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.” But Charli quickly clarified that she hadn’t created a conventional rock

Gracie Abrans COVER ME

The album cover, shot by Aidan Zamiri, features three icons: John Cale (music), Marc Jacobs (fashion), and Martin Scorsese (film).

CHART FACT

funny, earnest, sincere, and joyful all at the same time and that’s what I feel about a lot of the things I make.” Music, Fashion, Film is 30 minutes and five seconds, featuring 11 songs. The title is lifted from Charli’s SS26 song: “We’re walkin’ on a runway that goes straight to hell/ Nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion, or film.”

“For me, it’s fun to flip the form,” Charli told Vogue . “We know there’s gonna be people who are bothered by it, but that’s fine. “If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad. What’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on that could be.” Jeff Jenkins

record. “I never said I was making a rock album. “I’m not gonna explain where I

Charli XCX has had four Top 10 albums in Australia, including two chart-toppers – 2022’s Crash and 2024’s Brat .

artist told her fans in a TikTok video. “That is a fact... and I love it. And you might not.

was coming from with Rock Music ,” she continued, “but all I know is that things can be

And that’s cool. But if you do, then that’s cute. But if you don’t, then that’s totally OK. Because that’s just what it is to have personal preferences.”

THE NAME GAME

She was born Charlotte Aitchison. Charli XCX was her name on MSN Messenger.

JULY 2026

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