Report: Charli XCX is writing new music for Britney Spears

Update January 4, 2023: Britney Spears has denied reports that she is working on a new album. On Instagram she wrote, "Just so we’re clear most of the news is trash !!! They keep saying I’m turning to random people to do a new album … I will never return to the music industry !!!"

A source told Rolling Stone that the truth is somewhere in-between. Her record label are putting together new music in the hopes of convincing her to return to the music world. "Right now, management and A&R are trying to get her excited for the music," the source said. "As of right now, she’s not actively in recording but they’re getting [songs] done to present to her."

In her 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me, Britney Spears wrote that “pushing forward in my musical career is not my focus at the moment.” However, sources have revealed that multiple songwriters are working new music for an upcoming album that could arrive as soon as this year.

Both Charli XCX and Julia Michaels are mentioned by Page Six as being among the artists who have written songs for the rumored follow-up to Spears' 2016 album Glory. These names make sense, Michaels wrote Glory song "Slumber Party" while XCX previously revealed that she had contributed songs for the 2013 album Britney Jean that didn't make the cut.

“Charli has a great track record when it comes to writing clever pop songs,” a source told the U.K. tabloid The Sun. “She went into the studio earlier in the year to make some songs using Britney’s guidance of what she is after. She came up with a really strong track that is expected to make it onto the album, which Britney’s team hope will be out in 2024.”

Spears' near eight-year break from music coincided with her battle to end a conservatorship that placed her life and finances under court control for over a decade. A judge terminated the ruling in 2021. The following year she appeared alongside Elton John on "Hold Me Closer" while in 2023 she guested on will.i.am's "Mind Your Business."

In addition to penning songs for Britney, Charli XCX is also working on her next album. She recently told the Spout Podcast that she is writing with her fiancé, George Daniel of The 1975, on the follow-up to 2022's CRASH.