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Shots fired: Did Taylor Swift diss Charli XCX?
Keven Mawn
Shots fired: Did Taylor Swift diss Charli XCX?
Credit: Getty Images

Taylor Swift ‘s long-awaited new album, The Life Of A Showgirl, was officially released on October 3, and is now available on all platforms.

This is the singer’s 12th studio album, and it’s already causing a stir for a number of reasons, including a passage that could be aimed at Charli XCX.

A jab at Charli XCX?

Taylor Swift fans (Swifties) are known for their passion and dedication, and some of them have made a remark about one of the songs on the album. In the song Actually Romantic, a point seems to be directed at British singer Charli XCX, with whom a conflict has allegedly been going on for several years.

In the past, Charli XCX would have referred to Taylor Swift as Boring Barbie, and she wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to retaliate in her new track, making a nod to potential drug use.

“I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave,” Taylor Swift intones in the song.

“High-fived my ex and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me. Wrote me a song sayin’ it makes you sick to see my face“, we hear in the song. These lyrics seem to echo Sympathy Is a Knife, Charli’s song released in 2024 in which the British artist explores her insecurities, and which already seemed to point up Taylor’s brief relationship with Matty Healy, a member of The 1975, alongside George Daniel, Charli’s husband today.

The two artists have known each other for over a decade, and their relationship began as a collaboration of mutual admiration. Charli XCX joined Taylor Swift on stage during her 1989 tour, performing her hit Boom Clap. Later, Taylor invited Charli to open for her on the Reputation Stadium Tour, one of the most lucrative tours in pop history.

For Charli, it was enormous exposure to the American public at large, even if she would later admit that her musical universe was at odds with that of Taylor’s audience.

(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

The true meaning of Actually Romantic?

In a special edition of the song on Amazon Music, Taylor Swift revealed more about the origin of the work.

“Actually Romantic is a song about the moment when we realize that someone else was in a one-sided, conflicted relationship with us, without us knowing it,” Taylor explains.

She explains that, sometimes, a person can come to think so much of you that they make you feel you occupy a huge place in their life, without you being aware of it. While from the outside this may look like resentment or a problem they have with you, she points out that in reality it’s a form of attention, almost affection. You end up perceiving it as a mark of love. She adds that it’s flattering to realize that you can occupy such a space in someone’s mind for free. In retrospect, she even considers it rather romantic.

The relationship between Taylor Swift and Charli XCX is a perfect example of how two very different artistic trajectories can intersect, complement and sometimes collide. Taylor, a central figure in world pop, embodies an accessible, universal narrative, while Charli stands out as the experimenter who constantly pushes the boundaries of the genre.

So, Swifties, in your opinion, do the two women subtly send each other barbs through their songs?

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