Critics at Large | The New Yorker

Episode Summary: "Charli XCX Misses the Moment"

Release Date: February 12, 2026
Hosts: Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, Alexandra Schwartz

Overview: Main Theme and Purpose

In this episode, the Critics at Large team—Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz—dive deep into Charli XCX’s new mockumentary film, The Moment, and its relation to her "Brat" era and the phenomenon of the pop star music documentary. They discuss what these films reveal—and obscure—about authenticity, celebrity, branding, and the porous boundary between pop artifice and reality. Along the way, they compare The Moment to iconic music documentaries, meditate on the illusion of intimacy in pop—and examine why so many of these films miss the mark.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The "Brat Summer" Phenomenon

• The show opens with a playful nod to the "Brat Summer" of 2025, when Charli XCX’s bratty, alternative pop persona captured the culture’s imagination.
  • "[03:10] D: I saw that Charli XCX posted Kamala is brat."
  • "[03:41] D: I just want to say the Arial font had a huge moment. I mean, it was Arial is brat every application."
• The hosts reminisce about the ubiquity and fleetingness of “Brat Summer,” the viral “apple dance,” and the memetic quality of the Brat aesthetic.

"The Moment": Charli XCX’s Film and Its Targets

• The film is framed as a parody/mockumentary (or “autofiction”), critiquing the now-standard, highly polished "authorized" pop star documentary, as seen with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Metallica.
  • "[04:41] D: The moment is not a documentary. It's more like a mockumentary... a kind of parody of the endless exercise in self branding."
• Alexandra Schwartz lays out the film's premise: Charli plays a version of herself, with real-world figures (Rachel Sennott, Mel Ottenberg), fictional characters (Alexander Skarsgård as a soulless director), and risky celebrity cameos (Kylie Jenner).

Critical Responses to "The Moment"

• Naomi Fry: Disappointed by the lack of stakes and sophistication. "[09:28] C: The stakes could not be more non-existent. Like I ended up feeling like, who the fuck cares and what are the stakes here even?"
• Vinson Cunningham: Sees flashes of cleverness, notably in the satirical Ibiza scenes and the power play with Kylie Jenner ("one of the best performers in this movie" [13:33] E). But he thinks the film loses its way on questions of coolness and authenticity.
  • "[14:07] E: It didn't. I think it either wanted to be way crazy. It wanted to be like Black Swan or Slapstick. And I think it got kind of caught up in there."
  • Proposes a bolder, more topical plot: What if Charli’s 'Brat' brand were co-opted into a doomed political campaign? ("I would have loved to see a fake Kamala Harris campaign be like, that's brat." [14:43] E)
• Alexandra Schwartz: Finds the film’s relevance hollow because it reimagines recent history everyone already lived through.
  • "[17:59] D: To kind of pretend it turned out differently... this all kind of seems to me like an elaborate way of dodging the real issues that came up."
  • The film’s “strawman critique”—e.g., the brat credit card gag—doesn’t land because “the things she does in real life aren't that different.” (Referencing brand collabs with Super Bowl spots [19:50] C)

The Genre of Pop Star Docs: Comparing "The Moment" to Other Music Films

• Taylor Swift and Beyoncé: The team analyzes the “authorized” concert movie, now produced by and for the star, always tightly controlled, inherently promotional.
  • "[24:11] E: It used to be... a documentarian with her or his own vision coming into your world, intruding and hopefully finding something that you didn't plan... More recently... it's always a commercial for me."
  • "[26:42] D: ...her [Beyoncé’s] Renaissance movie, which, it's stultifying. It makes you feel... not the experience of being at the concert."
• Classic Music Documentaries: Naomi reflects on “Gimme Shelter” (1970)—the antithesis of these new, calculated docs—documenting chaos, danger, true unpredictability (the Altamont concert murder).
  • "[28:50] C: ...the absolute chaos that is captured on film, it creates something the likes of which we'll never see again and which we have rarely seen since."
• Continuum and Self-Reference:
  • Vinson sees the evolution: "The pop star is kind of an avatar for us in this way..." [39:54] E

Authenticity and The Illusion of Intimacy

• Madonna's "Truth or Dare" (1991) as a pivotal moment, navigating what it means to show “the real” behind the pop veneer ("the kind of newer path of like, I'm going to show myself for real...").
  • "[37:22] D: Do you want to talk at all off camera?...She doesn't want to live off camera, much less talk. I think that's what it is..." (with Warren Beatty as the dissenting voice)
• The New Pop Star Dilemma: Responding less to real life, more to formula and reference, leading to “diminishment of power and connection” [39:54] E.

Self-Branding and Its Discontents

• A meta-conversation: Now, everyone must manage their own "brands," not just celebrities.
  • "[40:30] D: Everyone is their own little pop star of their own confection... the famous people are trying to be real, the real people are trying to seem famous..."

What Do We Want from Celebrity Confessionals?

• Insights from artist biographies and memoirs: As Naomi observes, real candor generally comes from those no longer at “the top” or adjacent to it.
  • "[44:57] C: I found that you tend to get that more with the people who aren't extremely famous, which makes a lot of sense, right?"

Possible Models of Authenticity

• Alexandra highlights Bad Bunny as a contemporary artist successfully balancing massive fame with a genuine sense of self and politics.
  • "[46:23] D: I do feel Bad Bunny is tapping into like the perfect Persona mix of huge megastar popped him, mixed with this kind of like warm, personal, like, here's what I'm really about..."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Pop Stardom Parody
  • "[04:41] D: ...a kind of parody of the endless exercise in self branding that defines pop stardom today."
• Naomi on The Moment’s Lack of Stakes
  • "[09:28] C: The stakes could not be more non-existent. Like I ended up feeling like, who the fuck cares and what are the stakes here even?"
• Vinson on The Film’s Unfocused Tone
  • "[14:07] E: ...it either wanted to be way crazy. It wanted to be like Black Swan or Slapstick."
• Alexandra on the Film’s Strawman Critique
  • "[19:50] C: ...the things she does in real life aren't that different... this is like, literally your life. Like, you're not. It's not funny. It's real."
• On What We Get from Celebrity Memoirs
  • "[44:57] C: I found that you tend to get that more with the people who aren't extremely famous, which makes a lot of sense, right?"
• Vinson on the New Pop Star as Self-Referential
  • "[39:54] E: ...the pop star is kind of an avatar for us in this way. Am I, you know, quote unquote touching grass or am I just kind of navigating another cliche? A hall of mirrors of somebody's making..."
• Alexandra on Bad Bunny and a New Kind of Realness
  • "[46:23] D: I do feel Bad Bunny is tapping into like the perfect Persona mix of huge megastar popped him, mixed with this kind of like warm, personal, like, here's what I'm really about..."

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:16–06:41]: Introduction to "The Moment" and the music doc genre
• [08:31–15:34]: Critics’ reactions and initial takes on The Moment
• [19:56–25:57]: The history and evolution of pop star documentaries—Taylor, Beyoncé, Meisels Brothers, shift from documentarian to self-producer
• [27:51–33:39]: Deep dives into Gimme Shelter, Spice World, and the A Hard Day’s Night lineage
• [35:24–40:30]: Authenticity, the paradox of celebrity “realness,” Madonna’s Truth or Dare
• [42:42–47:31]: The Joaquin Phoenix gambit ("I'm Still Here"), what we want from confessional docs/biographies, and contemporary models of sincerity (Bad Bunny)

Final Thoughts

The critics argue that "The Moment," despite clever moments and parody, ultimately fails to address the real tensions at the heart of pop stardom and self-branding. Instead, the film and many of its peers land in a hall of mirrors where everyone—stars and fans—are performing versions of themselves for an audience that craves both authenticity and spectacle, seldom receiving either in full. The episode ends gesturing toward greater hope in artists like Bad Bunny, who, for now, seem to walk the line between true self-expression and mass appeal better than most.

Critics at Large will be live at the 92nd Street Y on February 19. Next episode: a Toni Morrison deep dive.