Charli XCX is opening up about her career beyond music at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

During a Q&A panel following the premiere of her new A24 film The Moment on Friday (Jan. 23), the 33-year-old pop star discussed her evolving acting career and whether her real-life persona differs from the heightened version of herself depicted in the upcoming mockumentary, which is inspired by her blockbuster Brat album and world tour.

“I’m obviously quite related to my character, so I had a lot of inspiration to pull from,” Charli said. “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.”

The Moment, directed by Aidan Zamiri, follows “a rising pop star navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut,” according to A24’s official synopsis. Check out the first trailer here.

The film, which hits theaters on Jan. 30, also stars Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Alexander Skarsgård, Kylie Jenner, Rish Shah, Jamie Demetriou, Arielle Dombasle, Trew Mullen, Shygirl and A. G. Cook.

The British singer-songwriter dominated summer 2024 with the release of her sixth studio album, Brat, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Her world tour in support of the project ran from November 2024 through August 2025.

During the panel, Charli went on to acknowledge that some of the movie’s more chaotic moments hit close to home.

“I know that sometimes I do give them a bit of a hard time, and I think for me those real spiral moments that you see in the film, I have been there,” the singer said. “As an artist, I am quite a volatile person. I am nice, though! I am quite nice, too. Right?”

Zamiri was quick to jump in. “Yes, yes, confirmed,” the director replied, prompting Charli to fire back, “Too f—king right,” sending the crowd into laughter.

Charli is keeping busy at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. In addition to The Moment, she appears in two other films premiering at the event: Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, and Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist, which features Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega.

“Right now, I am like the me in the film where I am wanting Brat to stop and pivot,” she said at the panel. “That is not because I don’t love it, it’s just because for all of us as artists, you want to challenge yourself and totally switch the creative soup that you are in and go and live in a different bowl for a while.”

She added, “That is how I feel about the projects that I am in. I just really want to work with these incredible directors like Aidan [Zamiri], Gregg Araki, [and] Cathy Yan, who I can live completely different lives with.”

Beyond Sundance, Charli has appeared in projects such as 100 Nights a Hero and Erupcja, as well as playing herself in the Amazon comedy Overcompensating. Her upcoming films include Faces of Death and the Dakota Johnson–directed A Tree Is Blue.

Sir Rod Stewart is firing back at Donald Trump.

On Friday (Jan. 23), the 81-year-old rock legend criticized the president in a video shared on social media after Trump suggested that NATO troops avoided the front lines during the war in Afghanistan.

“I may just be a humble rock star, I’m also a Knight of the realm and I have my opinions,” Stewart said in the Instagram clip. “I was born just after the war (World War II) and I have great respect for our armed forces that fought and gave us our freedom. So it hurts me badly, deeply, when I read that the draft dodger Trump has criticized our troops in Afghanistan for not being on the front line.”

Stewart went on to highlight the sacrifices made by U.K. service members, noting that more than 400 British personnel served during the prolonged conflict in Afghanistan.

“Think of their parents. Think about it,” the singer-songwriter continued. “And Trump calls ’em almost like cowards. It’s unbearable. So I’m calling on you, Prime Minister [Keir] Starmer and [Reform UK leader Nigel] Farage. Please, make the draft dodger Trump apologize, please.”

Stewart, who was knighted in 2016, ended the clip by saluting the camera and walking off. Throughout the brief video, various words and phrases flashed across the screen, including “We shall never forget,” “So disrespectful,” “Honor them,” “Disgraceful” and “Take a stand.”

The “Maggie May” singer’s remarks were in response to an interview Trump gave to Fox News earlier in the week from Davos, Switzerland, in which the president suggested that soldiers from other NATO countries stayed away from frontline combat during the Afghanistan war.

“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them,” Trump said. “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

In June 2025, Stewart also reflected on his past relationship with Trump, with whom he was once friendly.

“I live literally half a mile away,” he told Radio Times, referring to his residence in Palm Beach, Florida. “We’re both on the beach. I used to go to his Christmas parties. He’s always been a bit of a man’s man. I liked him for that. But he didn’t, as far as I’m concerned, treat women very well.”

Stewart believes that Trump’s time in office changed him. “Since he became president, he became another guy,” the musician said. “Somebody I didn’t know.”

Now, Stewart says he no longer considers Trump a friend, citing one policy issue in particular as unforgivable. “No, I can’t anymore,” he said. “As long as he’s selling arms to the Israelis — and he still is. How’s that war ever gonna stop?”

Watch Stewart’s latest message to Trump on Instagram below.

Pharrell Williams is facing a lawsuit from his former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo, who claims his longtime friend has cut him out of their company and owes him as much as $1 million from an N.E.R.D. album.

Before Pharrell became a solo superstar, he and Hugo formed a prolific songwriting duo for years, producing massive hits like Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” and Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body.” They also formed two-thirds of N.E.R.D., a hip-hop/rock band that enjoyed its own run of hit albums in the 2000s and 2010s.

But in a strongly-worded lawsuit filed Friday (Jan. 23), Hugo accuses Williams — his friend since their Virginia childhoods — of committing a wide range of legal wrongdoing against his former partner.

“Williams engaged in self-dealing, concealed material information, and … diverted revenues owed to plaintiff,” writes Hugo’s attorney, Brent J. Lehman of the law firm Munck Wilson Mandala. “Such willful, fraudulent, and malicious conduct warrants the imposition of punitive damages.”

Friday’s lawsuit, obtained and first reported by Billboard, isn’t the first legal battle between the two collaborators. Back in 2024, Hugo filed another action accusing Pharrell of “fraudulently” seeking sole control over the “Neptunes” name; that dispute remains pending at a federal trademark tribunal.

But the new case broadens the fight significantly, with Hugo accusing Williams of withholding royalties and refusing to hand over documents that would help Hugo figure out how much he’s owed — part of what his lawyers call a “systemic denial” of his rights as a partner. In one passage, Hugo’s lawyers say he’s potentially owed up to $1 million in damages from the 2017 N.E.R.D. album No One Ever Really Dies alone.

“Plaintiff has not received his appropriate share of royalties in connection with The Neptunes and N.E.R.D.’s album sales and released music, as well as distributions from touring income, and various merchandising deals,” Lehman writes.

A spokesperson for Pharrell did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.

Hugo and Pharrell were still working together between 2020 and 2022, when The Neptunes produced music for artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Rosalía and A$AP Ferg. As recently as 2022, shortly before the duo were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Hugo told Billboard that he had recently been in the recording studio “with my fellow Neptune, comrade Pharrell Williams.”

But under the surface, conflict was allegedly brewing. Hugo’s lawyers say he made repeated efforts starting in 2021 to get Pharrell to hand over “monthly statements, books and records, and royalty statements” as required by their operating agreement. In August 2021, Hugo’s attorneys started sending Williams demand letters seeking financial disclosures, doing so repeatedly over the last four years. But they say he largely ignored them, only offering “limited” and “incomplete” documents.

“Defendant Williams’ persistent failure to provide [financial records] constitutes a breach of the operating agreement,” Hugo’s lawyers say. “Plaintiff has been deprived of the transparency necessary to evaluate buyout proposals, confirm the calculation and categorization of distributions owed to him … and assess revenues.”

Amid that growing tension, Hugo filed his trademark case in March 2024, claiming that Pharrell and his company were improperly trying to unilaterally register trademarks for their shared Neptunes name. As first reported by Billboard, Hugo claimed that their partnership required them to share the name rights: “Applicant has committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith,” he alleged.

At the time, Pharrell’s reps downplayed the dispute, saying they had repeatedly offered to involve Hugo and had always intended both men to “share in ownership” of the name. In a September 2024 interview, however, the star confirmed that he and Hugo were no longer on speaking terms: “I love him, and I always wish him the absolute best, and I’m very grateful for our time together.”

In the new lawsuit, Hugo’s attorneys say the dispute has only continued to grow — and that their client is owed substantial money. They say they’ve seen no revenue at all since September 2023 from an N.E.R.D. merchandising partnership, for instance, and they claim they’re owed “at least $325,000-$575,000” from No One Ever, with “potential damages” over the album “exceeding $750k-$1M.”

As recently as last month, Hugo’s lawyers say, Pharrell’s attorneys “promised to produce documents” about the company’s finances. But they claim that ultimately “no documents were ever produced” to resolve the situation: “Notably, defendant Williams’ counsel admitted having difficulty accessing the documents but acknowledged that such documents exist.”

In technical legal terms, the lawsuit accuses Williams of breaching his fiduciary duty, seeks an accounting of the royalties for both the Neptunes and N.E.R.D., and asks for a declaratory judgment clarifying their rights under the operating agreement.

“After years of obfuscation by Pharrell and his team, Mr. Hugo had no choice but to seek substantial compensation and accountability in court,” said Lehman, the producer’s attorney, in an emailed statement to Billboard. “We look forward to presenting the evidence and obtaining the full relief the law provides.”