Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has officially been released – and fans are convinced that it features a diss track aimed at Charli XCX.
The pop superstar’s 12th studio album, the first since her engagement to Travis Kelce, contains a song called “Actually Romantic”, which is already generating discussion on social media.
Swift opens the track with the lyrics: “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave.”
She later sings: “High-fived my ex and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me. Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face…”
While cryptic, fans believe that this is Swift’s rebuttal of Charli’s song “Sympathy is a Knife” from her critically acclaimed 2024 album Brat.
In that song, Charli sings: “Don’t know if I’m spiralling. One voice tells me that they laugh. George says I’m just paranoid. Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show. Fingers crossed behind my back. I hope they break up real quick”.
The George referenced in the song is Charli’s now-husband, George Daniel, who is the drummer in indie-pop band The 1975. In 2023, Swift had a brief but much-publicised relationship with the group’s frontman Matty Healy, who fans think was referenced numerous times on her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department.
Neither Swift nor Charli XCX have confirmed if their respective songs are about each other – but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating.
“Actually Romantic is definitely about Charli XCX LMAOAAOAOAOO,” said one person.
A second asked: “What the f*** is Actually Romantic about Charli XCX????????”
“The lyrics to Actually romantic are crazyyy coming from Tay,” wrote a third fan.
“Taylor is DONE being nice — this is shade with a capital S,” noted another.
“What happens if I’m a Charli and Taylor fan,” said one fan caught in a conundrum.
It should be noted that Swift and Charli XCX have both publicly complimented each other in recent years.
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In June 2024, the British pop star hit back at fans in Brazil who chanted “Taylor Swift is dead” during one of her concerts. Reacting to the fans’ behaviour, Charli shared a message on social media, posted over a screengrab of a video alerting her to the distasteful chant.
“Can the people who do this please stop,” she wrote on her Instagram story. “Online or at my shows. It is the opposite of what I want and it disturbs me that anyone would think there is room for this in this community. I will not tolerate it.”
Meanwhile, in August 2024, Swift heaped praise on Charli during an interview with Vulture. “I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘Stay Away’ in 2011. Her writing is surreal and inventive, always,” she said.
“She just takes a song to places you wouldn’t expect it to go, and she’s been doing it consistently for over a decade. I love to see hard work like that pay off.”
Charli has also attempted to distance the meaning of “Sympathy is a Knife” from Swift. “People are gonna think what they want to think,” she said. “That song is about me and my feelings and my anxiety and the way my brain creates narratives and stories in my head when I feel insecure and how I don’t want to be in those situations physically when I feel self-doubt.”
The history between the two artists goes back years, with Charli supporting Swift on her 2018 Reputation stadium tour. The following year, she said: “As an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to five-year-olds.” Charli later apologised for the comment.
