“Charli are you sleeping?”
“You should sleep on the plane.”
“You should give it a rest.”
“I don’t know if I belong here anymore.”
“Has anyone talked to Charli?”
“Is anyone looking out for her?”
Members of Charli’s team can be heard declaring similar sentiments in her new film as throughout the course of the narrative the singer’s well being begins to decline. On January 30th, 2026, British pop artist Charli xcx released The Moment, a film “about brat and charli and a tour and none of it happened but maybe some of it did” the mockumentary focuses on “brat summer” The immediate aftermath as Charli xcx was suddenly rocketed into superstardom. Before brat was released many people wouldn’t immediately recognize the singer, despite her having many popular songs such as “I Love It”, “Break the Rules” and “Boys”. She was in an odd state of semi-fame where many of her songs had blown up but she herself had gone widely unrecognized or even confused with one of her contemporaries, Lorde. However, things changed in June of 2024 when Charli xcx released brat, suddenly she was world renowned. She had a tik tok dance, a world tour, and even the “brat wall”.
The movie focuses on this newfound success and poses a fictional version of reality in which, Charli’s label wanted to create a concert film to keep the momentum going: “brat. Summer. Forever!” The director for the concert film slowly took over and ultimately usurped Charli’s original artistic director, Celeste, creating another version of brat entirely. The loss of creative control reads like a horror movie, offering a greater commentary on widespread grind culture and the dismissal of women.
The term “grind culture” has become increasingly prevalent, with people feeling the need to always be engaged with something. Working overtime, having two jobs, finding a “side hustle”. The need to constantly be productive in order to feel like you’re advancing or making any sort of impact is paralyzing, leaving many people at the mercy of burnout and working themselves into the ground. Often this culture more adversely affects women, feeling like they have to constantly prove themselves or stay relevant while they’re young. Charli is constantly being told to rest yet never being given the time to, and when she finally does take a vacation, in the midst of tour rehearsals, it completely blows up in her face. She panic posts on social media misrepresenting a deal with one of her partner brands and surrenders to the exacting director. In the culmination of the film, her post resulted in the deal falling through, with her label potentially having to pay for the financial losses. She’s blamed for it and eventually leaves for six days, despite the real fault lying in the immense pressure put upon her. No one sees or hears from her until they realize they may be financially responsible for the deal. Once money became the concern, everyone became worried about her whereabouts.
In the final scene of the movie, Charli sends Celeste (who had since been let go) a voice note saying that she had given in to the label, and was doing the tour the directors way. She admits, “it’s not chic to be the last person at the party but I hate going home… I really hate it…” In her struggle for external approval and validation, she became increasingly scared of being alone. This feeling of inadequacy is not uncommon amongst people, especially students. The pressure to maintain a certain GPA, join enough clubs, or find a job can often seem unsurmountable. And if you’re unable to meet the lofty goals you set, sometimes it’s hard to look inward and face yourself. Going home can be scary, but staying away for too long is even scarier. Sometimes the party ends and you have to be okay with that. Later in the same monologue, Charli talks about the tour saying, “Maybe there’s a world where we could’ve done it our way. But that’s too far gone now”. Soon after, the scene fades into The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”, as you watch Charli perform the completely eviscerated version of the brat tour, mass marketed to Amazon. As horrifying as it is for these two women to have their artistic abilities steamrolled by a record label and a domineering director, there’s a sanguine sentiment to it all. Once she agrees to the horrible version of the tour, she’s free. In surrendering to other people’s expectations and knowing it won’t be perfect (in fact it won’t be very good at all), she’s able to let go and move on. “Brat Summer” won’t be forever, and that’s okay. Brat won’t be the last album Charli xcx ever releases and not getting a summer internship doesn’t make you a failure.
The Moment was a superb movie, while it’s yet to come to streaming, keep an eye out for when it finally drops. I laughed, cried, and danced. The opening sequence, jarring but intoxicating, grips you and doesn’t let you go until the credits roll. You’ll sit in the theatre jaw on the floor, well after the film has ended, waiting for Charli to come out. The piece is propelled by creative cinematography, surprisingly funny moments, and a beautifully earnest performance from Charli xcx herself. The project reinforces the danger of grind culture, while urging women to not accept ill treatment and to fight back. But mostly, it teaches us how to move on. There is always going to be a fear of inadequacy, but sometimes that very fear is what will destroy and keep you from fulfilling your fullest potential. You have to trust that you will keep growing, keep creating. As long as you’re happy with it, that’s success. Don’t force yourself into an inauthentic version of something just because you think it’s what the people will want. The Moment was both the beginning and the end of an era, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.