Major 00s star returning to music with nature songs after being ‘sexualised’-Robert Oliver-Entertainment – Metro

Charlotte Church is planning to release more music (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images)

A major 00s popstar has vowed to release new music in 2026 after feeling ‘sexualised, patronised, and ridiculed’ as a teenager.

Charlotte Church, now 39, rose to national fame in the UK as a classical singer at the age of just 13 with her debut album Voice of an Angel.

After leaving her classical origins behind, Charlotte rebranded as a pop singer-songwriter in 2005 and landed four top 20 hits within 18 months.

She also hosted her own talk show between 2006 and 2008 before judging a BBC Wizard of Oz auditions competition called Over the Rainbow.

However, at this time, Charlotte became a target of intense media attention, which left the Crazy Chick singer feeling ‘sexualised, patronised, and ridiculed’.

She left the music industry in the early 2010s, only sporadically self-releasing music between 2012 and 2014, but has now promised her first new album in 15 years.

It’ll be her first album in 16 years by the time it’s released (Picture: KMazur/WireImage)

Speaking to The Guardian, she said: ‘I’m going to release an album, hopefully in 2026. I want to sing about nature, healing and sisterhood. I want to create experiences to really make people feel.’

The upcoming album is said to be inspired by The Dreaming, the health retreat centre Charlotte opened in 2020 that allows visitors to ‘heal through experiencing beauty and wonder’.

She explained: ‘In the morning, I’ll [visit an on-site yurt] and sing to the land. [The song] can be whatever you want it to be.’

Charlotte revealed that she founded The Dreaming as a way to recover from her experiences of spending more than a decade in the public eye – the majority of her fame came in her teens.

Charlotte’s personal life became a tabloid target (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

‘[The Dreaming allows me to] cocoon and to heal my wounds inflicted in that exposure. I was made such tabloid fodder for such long periods of time – lots of people just saw me as a celebrity.

‘A p***head celebrity, really. It was a time with lots of misogyny flying about, especially towards working-class women, or women who were outspoken.’

In early 2002, around the release of her fourth studio album Enchantment, BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles pledged to lead Charlotte ‘through the forest of sexuality’ after her 16th birthday.

Speaking to comic and actress Kathy Burke about that time, the former classical singer said: ‘There was this shift where I became fair game.

‘Of course, it wasn’t good. At least it was out in the open. That lads lads lads culture was prominent, it was very simplistic, it was unashamed and it was just out there.’

‘I was made such tabloid fodder for such long periods of time – lots of people just saw me as a celebrity.'(Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

She continued: ‘Whereas now, it’s somehow become a bit more underground and a bit more dangerous.’

Even after leaving the music industry, Charlotte still faced widespread public scrutiny, with an appearance on Question Time in 2015 sparking backlash in some quarters.

After the singer raised the point that climate change played a role in war, she recalled: ‘It was all over the papers. Voice of an Angel, Brain of Angel Delight. I’ve been made into this caricature: sexualised, patronised, ridiculed.’

Charlotte released four classical albums in total between 1998 and 2002, scoring two top 10 albums, before pivoting towards singer-songwriter pop, landing her another top 10 album with Tissues & Issues.

Her transition towards the pop market saw her land a top three hit with Crazy Chick and three further top 20 hits with songs Call My Name, Mood Swings, and Even God Can’t Change the Past.

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