Taylor Swift appeared to take a subtle swipe at her ex-boyfriend Matty Healy as she reflected on the release of her latest album The Life of a Showgirl.
The 35-year-old singer dropped her highly anticipated 12th studio record on Friday, marking a tonal shift from her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department, which many fans believe was inspired by her brief romance with The 1975 frontman.
Swift and Healy were briefly linked in May 2023, shortly after her split from Joe Alwyn, before the relationship ended after a month.
Discussing the new album, Swift admitted she felt a freedom that wasn’t present with her last release.
“The album is out and I have such uncomplicated feelings of joy about it,” she told BBC Radio 1’s Greg James. “I do not feel any twisty, tortured way about it, which is not how I felt about the last album because there was such a lag time between, you know, when you make music and then you put it out.
“There's often times your life can make drastic changes in those times. Um, with this album, my life, is in exactly the same spot as when I wrote the record.”
She added: “It's got teeth too.
“So like I'm proud of that too because it's a full picture of like the full life experience, which for me is like there's always some element of drama that someone is forcing into my consciousness, which is fun to write about too.”
Swift also admitted she once feared her songwriting might dry up if she found happiness, a fear she says has been dispelled since her relationship with fiancé Travis Kelce.
“I used to kind of have this dark fear that if I ever were truly like happy and free being myself and nurtured by a relationship and what like, what happens if the writing just dries up,” she confessed.
“What if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain? And it turns out that's not the case at all and we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record.”
“I’ve never written a song about a real person, that’s hack and cheap.”
Her comments come as her fans are convinced the singer has taken a swipe at Charli XCX in a track from her album The Life of a Showgirl.
In the song, titled Actually Romantic, Swift sings: “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave,” a lyric many listeners believe is a pointed jab at Charli, who has openly referenced drug use in her music.
The speculation has been heightened by the title’s similarity to Charli’s track Everything is Romantic from her 2024 album, Brat.
In the wake of her release, her fans have branded her 12th studio album a “hit”.
However, she’s received mixed reviews from critics, she earned five stars from Rolling Stone Magazine, which described it as having “new, exciting sonic turns” and “incisive storytelling” .
Meanwhile, The Standard’s India Block gives the record one star, writing: “None of these songs stand out as a bona fide number one hit”.
