Why slow down when all of the doors are finally open?
She’s so everywhere, but most remarkably, she’s always ahead of the rest of us. Charli xcx has long been a radio hits pop star, but Brat, the universally famous electric lime-green album of Summer of 2024, cemented her as an icon and an experimental tastemaker. Since then, there’s been absolutely no slowdown in Charli’s creative output. “The Moment” and “Wuthering Heights,” released only weeks apart, are perfect examples of her rapidly shifting range while remaining true to her artistic style and integrity, keeping emotional expression at the center of the work.
The interdisciplinary pop star, who once adorned a t-shirt proclaiming that “they don’t build statues of critics,” understands the industry’s games and how to channel bureaucracy into bigger stages and more creative opportunities. The heightened level of fame, while likely suffocating and paradoxical as showcased in her mockumentary film “The Moment,” has spiraled into daily (almost hourly) articles about her stardom and artistry. This essay is no exception.
Since she was a teenager, Charli has sought out performing. From the 2008 raves in East London, accompanied by her parents, to premiering at Sundance in 2026, little has changed about Charli’s style and sound. In contrast to the likes of Taylor Swift’s “Eras,” Charli’s discography has always been sonically centered on synthy hyperpop. To some, this lack of evolution comes across as narrow, but in fact, her commitment to pop music has made her an expert in her craft; it’s a form of evolution grander than genre experimentation. Like “Barbie” (2023), Brat became about the branding, the vibe, the ethos, and energy; almost 2 years after its release, describing anything as “brat” is associated with Charli’s party girl anthems rather than a spoiled child.
Charli xcx has long explored and expressed her interest in film and pop culture; she is keenly aware that audiences are volatile entities that breathe life into Art. Despite industry pressures to remain singular by sticking to what’s working, she’s danced through different mediums. This meta extreme self-awareness explicitly shows up in her lyrics. Across film and music, there is a vulnerability put on display, but it’s consistently culturally relevant and relatable—after all, even the Democratic National Convention hopped on the Brat Bandwagon after Charli (who cannot vote in U.S. elections) tweeted “kamala IS brat.” While such an endorsement could dilute the authenticity of the club-focused coming-of-age album, it is apparent to almost everyone who the leech was.
The 2025-2026 Film Festival season has been booked and busy; Charli has worked on seven feature film projects (in varying capacities). Music for movies is not new for Charli, but with her recent collaboration for Emerald Fennell’s “‘Wuthering Heights,’” Charli reveals yet another creative corner of her multimedia mind map in constructing an entire soundtrack for a film, and notably, for a film set long before synthesizers existed. Her ability to iterate on historical material without losing its emotional weight is alchemical.
Outside of “Wuthering Heights,” TikTok’s favorite Brat song, “Apple,” actually carries a much deeper meaning, referencing the ancient object of affection and desire through a more honest or critical lens that considers contemporary conflicts and convictions. Like Fennell, everything Charli puts forth is automatically donned with online discourse from the masses. While the Internet argues for or against every angle and detail of their work, the more widespread the audience, the more likely it is to give them another chance to make more.
She will also contribute songs to the upcoming popstar drama “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, which pairs well with Charli’s overall persona and outlook on fame. On the other side of the camera, she’s landed several acting roles in narrative features, including “Erupcja,” “I Want Your Sex,” “The Gallerist,” and “Faces of Death.” Even if the films flop, which is a terrible contemporary evaluation/labeling of art, they serve as more evidence of Charli’s unrelenting desire to tackle fame in all forms.
Charli seemingly has shifted to film, but her music career has and always will be under the Pop umbrella. With a certain sassiness and consistency in her sound, I’m compelled to draw comparisons to Britney Spears’ career and discography. What sets Charli apart from her pop peers is her ability to weave creative historical context into her work, from art to film to club culture to fashion, and the lived experiences in between, with a clear sense that the ideas were conceived directly in her mind. Yet, from her film “The Moment,” and from appearances on podcasts like A24, Smartless, and Las Culturalistas, it’s also evident that she is dialed in on how to work in a collaborative environment in order to produce the best work possible that leaves little to no space between concept and execution.
Albeit, Charli xcx is not the first of her kind—there are a multitude of other Millennial/Zillennial multidisciplinary creatives who lead massive teams, but we most often see exploration and experimentation in early-career artists. For example, as Beyoncé’s fame grew and her artistry evolved, there were fewer billings for feature films and more focus on the creation of her own films and visuals to accompany albums. Miley Cyrus, who is currently celebrating 20 years since the start of Hannah Montana, has also scaled back her performance appearances and acting endeavors, citing that she may never tour again. Alternatively, for Charli, it’s as if her alter-ego and true self have merged into one–the distinction between public and private personas has blurred under the public eye.
An interesting anecdote of Charli’s artistic exploration, often subliminal or omitted entirely, is her multiracial identity. Her posh accent and pale complexion perhaps fool those who only look superficially, but the evidence is woven into her genetic and artistic makeup. More often than not, artists, particularly women of color, dabble in more than one form of expression. Sometimes, due to necessity (life in the arts is easy, linear, and financially stable for only a few), yet always as a means of accurately capturing the inner complexities, this multi-hyphenate manifestation makes her music and movies that much more layered and intricate.
Charli’s aim was never rooted in reaching ultimate stardom, as she mentioned in a Vanity Fair interview, but she’s honest and earnest in wanting as many people as possible to hear the work that she pours her heart into. Isn’t that the reason artists of all kinds put work into the world? Hoping and yearning to be read and received by others.
The power of the fanbase, which is explored fictionally in the Amazon Prime limited series “Swarm,” has also reached new heights, not only for Charli but for the entertainment industry at large. Studios have been slammed for casting based on social media followers, and studios have been rewarded significantly for the large box-office promise certain actors and filmmakers bring. Charli, well aware of this, has used her dedicated fanbase to her advantage, but it has never compromised what she seeks to create. Interestingly, for artists of this caliber, their fan base is less concerned with the quality of the creative output and more drawn to the person putting it out there.
More often than not, artists who reach a certain level of fame become unrelatable, but for Charli, like many of us, it’s as if movies serve as an escape and a tool for self-discovery, helping her continuously sharpen her music and lyrics. Her universal reach and relevance remain bold and brave, but recently, the artist has followed suit by subtly announcing a new era by privatizing social media accounts and deleting all posts. Paired with the narrative of “The Moment,” audiences are led to believe that Brat is dead. But who is to say when a work of art really dies? When the moment comes, and Charli’s new music makes its way back to the charts, I am confident that we will all be listening (voluntarily or not).