Taylor Swift and Charli xcx are two musicians who exist at polar opposite ends of the pop music scale, generally coexisting peacefully in their respective arenas.
But on some occasions, when the tectonic plates of the pop landscape shift and Charli and Taylor are thrown together, it seems to leave them less fond of each other — or so the internet thinks.
The first rumours of a feud emerged following Swift’s 2018 Reputation tour, where Charli xcx was one of Taylor’s support acts. Charli later expressed discomfort around the tour and the demographic, saying she felt as though it involved “waving at five-year-olds.”
The stars were thrown together again in 2023, when Swift struck up a brief relationship with Matty Healy, the best friend and bandmate of Charli’s husband, George Daniel.
This period is generally considered to be the inspiration behind Charli xcx’s track Sympathy is a Knife, from her hit 2024 album Brat.
The song’s lyrics include: “Don't wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend's show / Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick,” and “This one girl taps my insecurities / Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiralling.”
After some initial discussion on social media following the release of Brat, chatter around the Charli xcx and Taylor Swift ‘feud’ has lain dormant for over a year.
Until today, when Taylor Swift was rumoured to have penned a ‘diss track’ about Charli xcx on her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
“I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’,” Swift sings in the opening lyrics. “High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me,” she continues, adding: “Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.”
So, how much of this ‘feud’ is legitimate, and how did it all start? Let’s break down the history and the lyrical references.
First meeting and the Reputation tour
Charli xcx and Taylor Swift first met in December 2014 at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball while both riding fresh waves of career success. Taylor was in the midst of her 1989 era, while Charli was breaking into the mainstream with her hit Boom Clap.
The pair appeared to hit it off and stayed friendly throughout 2015. In February of that year, Charli covered Swift’s song Shake It Off for a BBC Live Lounge performance, and in October, Swift invited her onstage to perform Boom Clap during her 1989 tour date in Toronto. “Charli XCX is officially a Swiftie,” Teen Vogue declared in an article about the performance.
i woke up at 5am this morning thinking bout taylor swift.
— Charli (@charli_xcx) August 22, 2017
But it wasn’t until 2018 that things appeared to hit a snag. Taylor embarked on her Reputation stadium tour, inviting Charli xcx and Camila Cabello along as her support acts. As well as opening for Taylor, Charli and Camila would join her on stage each night for her performance of Shake It Off.
This time period happened to coincide with Charli xcx pivoting from her commercially appealing Sucker album (some aspects of which she has since said “feel fake” to her now) to her more alternative, club-leaning music.
During the 1989 tour, she debuted her new track 5 in the Morning, which includes the lyrics: “We on a roll, we don't stop 'til the bottles all popped / And the pills got me wasted” and “I can see you talk, got a big mouth (blah blah blah blah) / Would you stick around for the come down?” Not exactly Shake It Off adjacent.
When asked about the tour during her 2019 cover interview for Pitchfork, Charli said: “I’m really grateful that [Taylor] asked me on that tour. But as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to five-year-olds.”
Her comments attracted a lot of criticism from Swifties, who found them disparaging. Many believe this to be the moment that publicly confirmed a “feud”.
However, Charli later addressed her comments on X (formerly Twitter), explaining: “In the printed version of this much wider conversation my answers about this tour were boiled down into one kind of weird sentence [...] Leading up to that tour I’d been playing a tonne of 18+ club shows and so to be on a stage in front of all ages was new to me and made me approach my performances with a whole new kind of energy [...] There is absolutely no shade and only love here!”
Taylor Swift’s relationship with Matt Healy
After Charli released this statement, she and Taylor appeared to keep their distance, with no public interactions taking place for years. Then, in 2023, a bombshell was dropped: Taylor had broken up from her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn and begun dating Matt (Matty) Healy, the divisive, floppy-haired frontman of The 1975.
During their brief relationship in May 2023, Taylor was embarking on the first leg of her Eras tour, where Healy would occasionally accompany her and watch on from the crowd. “She and Matty are madly in love,” a source told The Sun. “It’s super-early days, but it feels right.”
Their relationship burned bright and fast, coming to an end in little over a month. “Taylor and Matty broke up. They are both extremely busy and realised they’re not really compatible with each other,” one source told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “Taylor's friends want what’s best for her and aren’t shocked that their relationship fizzled out, since she recently got out of a long-term relationship.”
Sympathy is a Knife, Brat and The Tortured Poet’s Department
In April 2024, Taylor released The Tortured Poet’s Department, which was widely reported to have been inspired by her relationship with Matt Healy. Lyrical references to Healy appear to include: “You smokеd, then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist” and “I scratch your head, you fall asleep / Like a tattooed golden retriever.”
Two months later, Charli xcx released Brat, transforming her from a fan-favourite artist into a pop sensation. Fans were quick to link the lyrics on one of Brat’s tracks, Sympathy is a Knife, to Taylor Swift.
“I don't wanna share this space / I don't wanna force a smile / This one girl taps my insecurities / Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiraling,” she sings. “One voice tells me that they laugh / George says, ‘I'm just paranoid.’”
Other lyrics include: “Cause I couldn't even be her if I tried / I'm opposite, I'm on the other side,” and “Don't wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend's show / Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick.”
Swifties offered criticism at the time of release but it was largely overshadowed by the mammoth impact of Brat and its sudden link to Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
Actually Romantic and The Life of a Showgirl
The feud was all but dead until Thursday, October 2, when a leaked lyrics sheet from Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl revealed a new song, Actually Romantic.
Fans were quick to notice the link between the song title and Charli xcx, whose remixed song Everything is Romantic is currently the number one sound on TikTok.
“I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’, [...] High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me,” Swift sings in the opening lyrics.
The lyrics also make parallels to Sympathy is a Knife, with Swift saying: “Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.”
In the chorus, Swift claims that the unnamed antagonist’s actions are “actually romantic”, singing: “But it's actually sweet/ All the time you've spent on me / It's honestly wild / All the effort you've put in.”
The response to the track has been mixed. Some fans have praised Taylor for “clapping back”, while others are conflicted. Critics have been more clear on the situation, with Laura Snapes claiming the song underscores Taylor’s “tedious obsession with conflict.” And thus, the ‘feud’ continues.
