Charli XCX Did Write New Music for Britney Spears, But It Was Never Recorded

Earlier this year, Spears shut down rumors about "random people" prepping an album for her, but Charli XCX said the pop icon recording the songs she wrote for her would be a "dream come true"

The rumors about Charli XCX writing songs during sessions for Britney Spears were initially dismissed by the pop icon at the beginning of the year. But during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, the musician clarified that the part about her writing music was true — what wasn't true, however, was the narrative that Spears had recorded any of them.

"It leaked to the press. Britney then did this post where she was like, 'I don't have random people write for me.' And I was like, 'Oh. OK. Go off.' So I don't know that she was a part of the process," Charli explained about the Malibu writing camp. "The team were present… But she didn't record it. She obviously didn't."

In addition to her own catalog of music — which will be expanding with the arrival of her upcoming sixth studio album Brat, out June 7 — Charli has worked as a songwriter for Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello ("Señorita"), Selena Gomez ("Same Old Love"), Jidenna and Roman GianArthur ("Classic Love"), Ryn Weaver ("OctoHate"), and more.

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But as Spears emphasized in her January 2024 post, she writes her own material, too, in addition to having written "over 20 songs for other people" in the past two years. "They keep saying I'm turning to random people to do a new album … I will never return to the music industry !!!" she wrote on Instagram. "When I write, I write for fun or I write for other people !!! For those of you who have read my book, there's loads that you don't know about me."

On Watch What Happens Live, Charli called the prospect of Spears recording any of the songs she's written "a dream come true." But the release of her memoir The Woman in Me revealed that Spears has little motivation for recording music at this time. "Pushing forward in my music career is not my focus at the moment," she wrote. "It's time for me not to be someone who other people want; it's time to actually find myself."