She couldn't identify with the current trend of concert films, so British pop star Charli xcx flipped the form on a traditional genre with her new mockumentary.From Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour" to Beyonce's "Renaissance" movie, concert films have become a top-grossing genre in recent years.

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British pop star Charli xcx was also approached to make a film around her concert tour after she became a cultural phenomenon with her 2024 album "Brat."

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"It kind of felt like a way to elongate the life span of the album for my record label," she told Variety magazine. "I was just not really into that. I was only interested in flipping the form of something quite traditional."

That sparked the idea for a movie titled "The Moment," a mockumentary that blows up the concert film genre, ironically portraying the commercial motivations often driving such productions.

Following its European premiere at the Berlinalefilm festival, "The Moment" is now available to watch in theaters throughout the continent.

Dealing with industry pressures

The film, directed by Aidan Zamiri, portrays Charli xcx in an alternative timeline in which the fictionalized version of the pop star does accept to take part in a concert movie that aims to extend the success of her "Brat Summer," as the cultural hype surrounding the album was called.

The project gets muddled up between the opposing artistic visions of creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates), a close friend of the star and club scene insider, and filmmaker Johannes (Alexander Skarsgard), who has a track record of directing extremely successful concert films but is a douchebag.

Even though the alpha male filmmaker does manage to get the upper hand, eliminating Celeste's extreme strobe lights and cocaine references, on a meta level, the mockumentary is packed with Charli xcx's trademark hyperpop, messy, party-girl aesthetics.

Other stars also show up in the film: actors Rachel Sennott and Julia Fox and media star Kylie Jenner make cameo appearances as exaggerated versions of themselves, while actor Rosanna Arquette takes on the role of the record label executive who doesn't have time to discuss any details of the project.

Now on sale: the 'Brat' credit card

In the film, even as she prepares the concert tour, Charli's schedule is filled with absurd promotional stunts, including a special "Brat" credit card for her queer fans.

Incidentally, the film studio behind "The Moment," A24, has now released a customizable "Brat" credit card — but it's not a real one.

The credit card storyline directly refers to how artists are pressured into commercialization while also reflecting real-life events. The British star has in fact associated with various corporate brands, for example headlining a performance event aimed at boosting the image of Revolut, the London-based financial technology company that offers a popular banking app.

On losing artistic control

At the Berlinale press conference, where she discussed her new film, Charli xcx mentioned this "feeling of losing control" of her artistic vision.

"For years, I was known as a pop artist who was kind of on the fringes with a very loyal, exclusively gay, fan base," she said. While she feels thankful for having gained access to a broader audience with "Brat," she also "found elements of that journey quite difficult."

Born Charlotte Emma Aitchison in 1992, Charli xcx self-funded and recorded her first album at the age of 14, posting the songs on her Myspace page in 2008. She was then discovered by a promoter of warehouse raves in East London who asked her to perform at his illegal parties.

Charli xcx has since released six other studio albums, culminating with "Brat." It was her best success to date and even managed to grab the attention of people who weren't into pop music by unintentionally becoming part of the 2024 US presidential campaign.

A brand adopted by Kamala Harris

After Kamala Harris became the nominee of the Democratic Party, replacing Joe Biden, Charli xcx shared a now-legendary X post that declared, "kamala IS brat." The post received almost nine million views in just four hours.

Harris embraced the social media trend, rebranding her campaign with logos inspired by the toxic green color and low-res Arial font of the "brat" album cover.

The pop star didn't expect this reaction, later stating that her post was meant as "something positive and lighthearted" as opposed to a serious political endorsement, she told New York magazine.

She doesn't see herself as "a political artist," she added in the 2024 interview, yet "to be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women's rights, is hugely important to me."

The political meme largely contributed to the visibility of "Brat Summer" — and made Kamala Harris look cooler in the eyes of a younger generation.

The alternative reality presented in "The Moment" doesn't refer in any way to the British star's accidental intervention in US politics — despite the surreal and comedic potential.

But with the outcome of the election, this aspect of the "Brat Summer" arguably became unsuitable for a satirical self-portrait of a pop star. Amid the instability of today's political world, criticizing the music industry's greed is undoubtedly a safer bet as a timeless issue — one that, however, sidesteps weightier problems of the moment.

Edited by: Cristina Burack

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2026 05:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).