Songfacts®:

• "Chains of Love" is a dark, cinematic synth-pop track created by Charl XCX as part of her full soundtrack album for director Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights film adaptation (starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine and Heathcliff). The song has a gothic, theatrical feel inspired by Emily Brontë's classic 1847 novel.
• The song is about a toxic, obsessive passion that creates an inescapable emotional trap. Its repeated refrain of "I know the chains of love won't break" has all the doomed finality of Catherine and Heathcliff at their most unhinged, except now set to pulsating synths instead of gale-force Yorkshire wind.
• Charli wrote the song with Finn Keane, her chief accomplice on the Wuthering Heights project, and with Justin Raisen, whose résumé includes Charli's Sucker-era tracks like "London Queen" and "Hanging Around." Keane and Raisen's haunting soundscape draws comparisons to Charli's 2013 debut album, True Romance.
• The seeds of Charli's Wuthering Heights project were sown when she met Fennell at a party. Fennell sent over the script; Charli adored it; and when asked to contribute a single song, she countered with an offer to make an entire album.
  
  Charli and Finn Keane spent 2025 creating music inspired by the screenplay's gloom and wildness, renting out studios on the road during Charli's tour.
• "Chains of Love" was released on November 13, 2025, as the soundtrack's second single. It carries a similar spooky feel to the lead single, "House," further establishing the soundtrack's dark, experimental direction. "Chains of Love" features prominently in the film's trailer.
• Directed by cprinz, the video goes full paranormal dinner party. Charli, dressed entirely in white, performs atop a long dining table in a luxurious hall, flipping her hair, writhing in anguish, and dodging flying dishes. At one point, the table tips over, leaving her clinging on above the void like a particularly glamorous Victorian ghost.