{"id":3133,"date":"2026-01-26T13:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T13:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/the-moment-doesnt-take-charli-xcx-seriously-neither-should-we\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T13:40:16","slug":"the-moment-doesnt-take-charli-xcx-seriously-neither-should-we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/the-moment-doesnt-take-charli-xcx-seriously-neither-should-we\/","title":{"rendered":"The Moment Doesn\u2019t Take Charli XCX Seriously, & Neither Should We"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mild spoilers ahead. <\/em><\/strong>Charli XCX <\/a>hates being famous. She\u2019s also terrified of becoming irrelevant. She loves pop music but couldn\u2019t care less about being a pop star. She thinks the word \u201ccunt\u201d is cool, but \u201cbitch\u201d is cringe. Well, at least this is the Charli XCX<\/a> we see in The Moment<\/a>, <\/em>a satirical mockumentary that takes aim at the music industry, standom, and how both treat the artists at their center. As a heightened version of herself in the Aidan Zamiri-directed film, Charli XCX is at once a decisive musician who knows exactly what her image should be, and a distressed pop pawn torn between label requests and capitalistic endeavors to turn her viral \u201cbrat summer\u201d into a booming brand. The Moment, <\/em>which premiered this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival<\/a> in Park City, Utah, finds Charli XCX at a crossroads; she\u2019s ready to say goodbye to her seminal 2024 album <\/a>Brat<\/a><\/em> but anxious about what comes after your entire career has been whittled into a neon(ish) shade of green and an indescribable aesthetic. What happens when you become a punchline?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The answer, according to Charli and the team behind A24\u2019s The Moment<\/em>, is to start making the jokes yourself. The Moment<\/a><\/em> is at its best when it doesn\u2019t take itself seriously, when it leans into being a searing commentary on fame and stardom, and when it makes fun of Brat Summer,<\/a> a concept that (aside from the music, which was very good) already feels like it was a fever dream\/ recession indicator of a lost era, even though it was just about 20 months ago. Brat Summer existed in the \u201cpost-pandemic\u201d rarified space of hopefulness America seemed to have before Trump was re-elected, when partying was back, and our feeds felt less dystopian. Lest we forget, a core tenet of the Brat<\/em> era was that it was fun<\/em>, and for the most part, The Moment <\/em>is too. The film takes us back to 2024, right before Charli XCX is to tour the album, when the Brat<\/em> phenomenon is on its last legs. The film is ruthless in its depiction of record execs, the business side of the music industry, and the commodification of artists \u2014 as it should be. As her image is being chopped, skewed, and sold for parts, Charli (a genuinely good actor) toggles between aloof disinterest and manic frustration. So how much of the real Charli XCX is in The Moment<\/em>?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The fact that it\u2019s all a performance is very telling. I think the tension lies in trying to find out the truth. Do you ever know anyone? Every day people are performing who they are, and this movie is a commentary on that.<\/p>\n

\u2018the moment\u2019 co-star Tish Weinstock<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe thing about Charli is\u2026 she\u2019s so authentically herself, and she\u2019s not afraid to open up and show you all the moving parts inside of her,\u201d Charli\u2019s co-star, Isaac Powell<\/a>, said on the Sundance red carpet<\/a> at the premiere of The Moment. <\/em>\u201cI felt like I got to know the real [Charli] and you\u2019ll see the real her in this movie. She\u2019s an open book. I don\u2019t think anyone will be surprised by anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The most surprising thing about The Moment<\/em> isn\u2019t who Charli is \u2014 or isn\u2019t \u2014 pretending to be, but who she says she\u2019s not. Charli XCX isn\u2019t the kind of pop star who likes pyrotechnics or stunts where she\u2019s suspended in the air wearing sparkles and harnessed to an apparatus. Sound familiar? Charli XCX is probably never going to confirm or deny if the jabs at packaged pop princesses that are made in the film are direct hits on Taylor Swift (who allegedly dissed Charli<\/a> on her most recent album), but it was surprising to me how unsubtle they were. Swift has produced many over-the-top concert films. When a trailer for Charli XCX\u2019s fake music film drops in The Moment<\/em>, it looks like it\u2019s ripped from the Disney Plus discover page trying to redirect you to watch the Eras Tour.<\/a> It\u2019s very Swift-coded to say the least. But Swift isn\u2019t the only pop star to make a concert doc, and she\u2019s not the only one who dons a sequinned mic and suspends in the air over her fans during her acts. She\u2019s not the only billionaire poster child for how pop music has become a marketing machine more concerned with bottom lines than quality music. It could just be a coincidence, right?\u00a0 \u2014 or Charli XCX and Taylor Swift are engaged in a pop star petty-off. I, for one, am here for it. If Swift can (allegedly) throw shots at Charli XCX, why shouldn\u2019t she shoot back?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charli xcx appears in The Moment by Aidan Zamiri, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Moment<\/em> star Tish Weinstock<\/a> said the confusion over what is a performance and what\u2019s not in the film is the point. \u201cThe fact that it\u2019s all a performance is very telling,\u201d Weinstock said at the premiere. \u201cI think the tension lies in trying to find out the truth. Do you ever know anyone? Every day people are performing who they are, and this movie is a commentary on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charli\u2019s performance of who she is in The Moment <\/em>isn\u2019t always a flattering one. When she blows off her creative director (played excellently by Hailey Benton Gates, giving a nuanced, exasperated yet restrained performance that sometimes outshines its material) in the middle of tour rehearsals to go to a wellness spa in Ibiza, Charli XCX is being a brat \u2014 and not in the coked-out, absurdist chic way she intended. Charli is running from fame, and she runs into Kylie Jenner,<\/a> naturally (Rachel Sennott<\/a> and Julia Fox<\/a> also deliver strong cameos). It\u2019s a bit on the nose to include a Kardashian, the first family of being famous for fame\u2019s sake, but somehow it works. Jenner surprisingly holds her own while presumably also playing a heightened version of herself. She\u2019s passive aggressively pissed at Charli for stealing the in-demand director Kylie and her sister (she didn\u2019t specify which one) wanted for their own project. This causes Charli to spiral, and to call her team demanding they give the hotshot director, who has been tapped for Charli\u2019s concert film, anything he wants. The director, Johannes, is played by Alexander Skarsg\u00e4rd<\/a> who is having the time of his life<\/em> in this role.<\/p>\n

Johannes acts as a stand-in for all the shitty men women in music have to deal with, the ones who condescend, belittle, mansplain, and gaslight. He does all that cloaked in therapy speak and bad clothes. Skarsg\u00e4rd is truly hilarious \u2014 albeit disturbing \u2014 in the role. It\u2019s in the scenes with Johannes, the gaggle of other bros, and Rosanna Arquette\u2019s clueless record executive, who each are attempting to sell, monopolize and destroy Charli\u2019s image, that the movie finds its footing. The movie is a ridiculous takedown of how silly this industry is, and how unserious Brat Summer was. When she\u2019s at her most self-deprecating, The Moment<\/em>\u2019s Charli XCX is extremely likeable, and the world she\u2019s critiquing is all about extremes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFame is sacrificing your privacy but also getting everything that you want,\u201d Weinstock said when asked to describe fame and the film\u2019s explanation of it. \u201cDeal with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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As Charli XCX deals with it, she\u2019s grappling with having it all while wanting none of it. The last act of the film could be interpreted as a sincere rumination on the mental toil of massive success, and the loss of creative freedom, but it\u2019s also where the movie\u2019s message gets muddled. It may seem hard to feel bad for someone who got everything she wanted, but the genuine emotions that Charli the actress delivers help you root for this anti-heroine, even when you\u2019re rooting for her multi-million dollar Brat<\/em> credit card deal not to fall through. The viewer gets just as caught up in the allure of Chari XCX as the parasocial stans she\u2019s referencing. But Charli XCX is taking the piss out of herself, her fans, and their co-dependency. She can leave the sincerity for the sparkly pop stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deadline called The Moment<\/em><\/a> <\/em>a \u201cspiritual sequel to Spice World<\/em>\u201d and I\u2019ll go further and call it Spice World <\/em>meets Uncut Gems. <\/em>Complimentary! Ultimately, Charli XCX\u2019s fans will love her irreverent approach and newcomers will be endeared by her self awareness. There\u2019s a scene near the beginning of the film where Charli asks one of her team members if something related to Brat Summer was too cringe. They reply, \u201cIt\u2019s all cringe.\u201d Making a meta anti-concert film to say goodbye to an era that had cable news debating whether the Vice President was \u201cbrat\u201d is a little cringe. The Moment\u2019s<\/em> Charli XCX would lean into it. Sure, it\u2019s all cringe, but cringe sells, and that\u2019s all that matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Moment<\/strong> is in theaters on January 30.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I Went To A Charli XCX Metaverse Concert<\/a><\/p>\n

Charli XCX\u2019s Taylor Swift Comments Spark Anger In <\/a><\/p>\n

Charli XCX "Alone Together" New Music Doc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mild spoilers ahead. Charli XCX hates being famous. She\u2019s also terrified of becoming irrelevant. She loves pop music but couldn\u2019t care less about being a pop star. She thinks the wo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fashion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cncurc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}