Charli XCX has three films at the Sundance Film Festival. After the premiere of The Moment Friday, she said she hopes this film, I Want Your Sex and The Gallerist help take her in a new direction from the Brat phenomenon of her 2024 album and subsequent tour.
2024 was coined "Brat Summer" and she is still feeling it. So, she chose acting roles carefully. The Moment is a mockumentary in which Charli XCX plays herself, directed by Aidan Zamiri. Who directed her "360" and "Guess" videos.
I Want Your Sex is a sex comedy from Gregg Araki. The Gallerist is a Cathy Yan thriller set in the art world.
"For all of us as artists, you want to challenge yourself," the singer said. "You want to totally switch the creative soup that you're in and go and live in a different bowl for a while or whatever, just feel enriched by that."
The Moment is set in September 2024 as the fictional Charli XCX attempts to put Brat Summer behind her. She spirals under the pressure to perform a final show and meet the record label's expectations with a promotional collaboration and concert film."I would like to think I'm not as much of a nightmare as Charli in the film but my real managers are in the audience and they probably know the true answer to that," she said. "I know that sometimes I do give them a bit of a hard time."
Ecen through The Moment was a mockumentary, she said she related to her fictional version's extremes.
The label hires a director (Alexander Skarsgaard) who clashes with Charli's vision. She also struggles with conflicting assurances from her own team and the label's.
"Having been in the music industry since I was 16, I've gone through those different stages in my career where I've felt on top of the world, where I've felt like an absolute piece of [expletive] on the ground," she said. "I've really gone through it all and I've also met different versions of all of the characters within this film."
Charli XCX vouches for The Moment's entourage of hangers on and people with agendas.
"I've met the people who are truly rooting for you no matter what, even if you are an [expletive]," she said. "I've met people who are in it to be close to the artist. I've met people who are so 'We totally get you' and they really don't."
While all three of her Sundance films offer something different, The Moment let Charli XCX exorcize some of her frustrations in the music industry.
A24 will release The Moment Jan. 30.
.jpg){kind=link}