Is Taylor Swift’s ‘Actually Romantic’ About Charli XCX? An Investigation

According to Swifties, The Life of a Showgirl proves Taylor Swift did not miss the so-called “diss track” on last summer’s hit Charli XCX album, Brat.

I put diss track in quotes, because the 33-year-old British singer put out a PSA to fans that none of the album’s songs (aside from “Von Dutch”) fit into that category. “They’re really just about how it’s so complicated being an artist, especially a female artist, where you are pitted against your peers and also expected to be best friends with every single person constantly, when if you’re not, you’re deemed a bad feminist,” she said in a TikTok video in May 2024, adding, “That, to me is just like, such an unrealistic expectation.”

She continued, “These songs are kind of about how as a woman, as an artist, some days you can feel on top of the world, some days you can feel unbelievably insecure, other days you can feel highly competitive. Sometimes you can feel like literal trash. And it’s really emotional and it’s complicated to deal with, and we’re not supposed to talk about it, but these songs do talk about it. And I’ll probably chastised about it, but whatever, it’s reality.”

Following the release of Brat, Swift praised Charli in a Vulture profile while making no mention of the track fueling feud rumors, “Sympathy Is a Knife.”

Now, fans believe she was saving her thoughts for The Life of a Showgirl. On October 1, the lyrics to “Actually Romantic” made their way online ahead of the album’s official release, and fans didn’t wait for confirmation before starting to connect the dots.

With all that being said, is “Actually Romantic” about Charli XCX? Let’s talk about the correlations between their lyrics and past statements.

The title, “Actually Romantic”:Right off the bat, the title of the track could be a reference to the Brat track, “Everything is romantic.”

Verse One & Chorus:“I heard you call me ‘boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave/ 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/ Some people might be offended”

“But it’s actually sweet/ All the time you’ve spent on me/ It’s honestly wild/ All the effort you’ve put in/ It’s actually romantic/ I really got to hand it to you/ No man has ever loved me like you do”

In “Sympathy Is a Knife,” Charli XCX sings, “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show. Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick.”

In case you’re confused, Taylor Swift had brief, yet highly publicized relationship with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy during the summer of 2023. At the same time, Charli was already in a longterm relationship with the band’s drummer, George Daniel, who is now her husband. Charli is also close friends with Healy’s current fiancé Gabriette, but that’s neither here nor there.

Meanwhile, here’s what Charli said told Vulture about “Sympathy Is a Knife”: “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.”

Verse Two:”Hadn’t thought of you in a long time/ But you keep sending me funny valentines/ And I know you think it comes off vicious/ But it’s precious, adorable/ Like a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse/ That’s how much it hurts/ How many times has your boyfriend said/ “Why are we always talking about her?”

Again, this could reference the first verse of SIAK:

“This one girl taps my insecurities/Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling/One voice tells me that they laugh/ George says I’m just paranoid/ Says he just don’t see it, he’s so naive I’m embarrassed to have it, but need the sympathy”

Charlie addressed these lyrics directly in Vulture, saying, “Sometimes I’d look onstage and be like, Oh my God … I’m never going to play these rooms, ever. That made me feel jealous. I told Matty that. And George. They were both like, ‘Shut up. What are you talking about?’”

For even more context, Swift performed “Anti-Hero” live for the first time during a surprise appearance at The 1975’s show in London back in January 2023 (prior to her relationship with Healy), which could be the moment Charli references in her song.

Verse Three:“You think I’m tacky, baby?/ Stop talking dirty to me/ It sounded nasty but it feels like you’re flirting with me/ I mind my business, God’s my witness that I don’t provoke it/ It’s kind of making me wet”

While Charli XCX has never publicly called Swift “tacky” as far as I’m aware of, she did face backlash for her description of Swift’s audience after opening for the 2018 Reputation tour, telling Pitchfork, “As an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to five-year-olds.”

She later apologized to upset fans in a follow-up tweet.

What are the fans saying?Unsurprisingly, fans are picking sides. For the most part, Charli XCX fans are claiming Swift “missed the point” of Charli’s song, which grapples with her own insecurities and the feelings she projects onto an artist she deems as more successful than her.

Charli herself seemed to address this point in a remix of the track, which includes the new line, “It’s a knife when you’re finally on top… / They want to see you fall.” The new tone of the song suggests she’s starting to relate to the subject of her jealousy following the success of Brat.

Meanwhile, many Swifties believe she’s entitled to feel some type of way about her former openers’ switch-up. Another fan claims Charli “deserves every lashing” after posing with a cutoff hand with sporting a “Charli XCX” friendship bracelet for that Vulture profile, which can be tied back to the Eras Tour of it all…

Then there’s the arguments over who’s a worse “girl’s girl,” which is a term that has been weaponized against women for long enough, though that’s a conversation for another day. Of course, some fans simply feel caught in the middle and would probably like to be excluded from this narrative altogether.

If all of this really is what it looks like, I personally hope these two will eventually work it out on the remix.