The renowned pop singers and songwriters Taylor Swift and Charli xcx — have caused turmoil on social media after publicly participating in Internet beef with one another. With the release of Swift’s newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, the feud only continues to intensify.
The two popstars began their public relationship in 2018 when British popstar and DJ Charli xcx opened for Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour. Their seemingly amiable friendship came to a halt — shortly after the tour when Charli xcx complained in a 2019 Pitchfork interview, “I’m really grateful that [Swift] asked me on that tour… but as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to 5-year-olds.” Given that the fanbases of the two artists slightly differ — Charli xcx generally attracting a committed group of teens and young adults and Swift tending to have a younger and more youthful following — Charli xcx felt that the audience she performed to on Swift’s tour was a step down from the crowd she was accustomed to.
In 2023, Swift had a brief “situationship” with Matty Healy, the frontman of the pop rock band The 1975. Charli xcx, married to the band’s drummer George Daniel and close friends with Healy, was presumably present to witness Swift and Healy during their fling. Although Swift and Healy’s relationship quickly concluded, Charli xcx proceeded to write a few lines rumoured to be about Swift in her 2024 release “Sympathy is a knife” from the critically praised album Brat. The British DJ writes, “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show… fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick.” When asked about the song, Charli xcx tells New York Magazine, “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.”
On the release day of Swift’s 2024 record The Tortured Poets Department, Charli xcx made an ambiguous tweet reading “sympathy is a knife.” The tweet received attention from pop culture fans once the popstar dropped her 2024 album Brat, as it was supposedly too big of a coincidence to have happened accidentally.
The British popstar published a photoshoot with David Lachapelle to promote the Brat album in 2024. One photo from the shoot features a bloody hand with a friendship bracelet on its wrist, reportedly referencing Swift and her ongoing connection with friendship bracelets, which she used to promote her record breaking world tour —The Eras Tour.
With Swift’s brand new album The Life of a Showgirl finally out to the public, many fans suspect the track, “Actually Romantic” is about the feud with her former tour-mate. Charli xcx is commonly known for the “party girl aesthetic,” associating herself with going out and snorting cocaine. Swift references the so-called “party girl” and her drug use by beginning the song with the cryptic lines “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.”
Though the song is very clearly throwing shade towards Charli xcx, Swift claims in The Life of a Showgirl commentary movie that the song is “a love letter to someone who hates you… it’s flattering… I don’t hate you, and I don’t think about this, but thank you for all the effort.” This explanation has evoked both confusion and frustration, as Swift undeniably thinks about the drama between her and Charli xcx, even enough to write an entire diss track about it. At the 2025 Grammy’s, Swift outwardly dances to Charli xcx’s performance after having already written the diss track about her, making her intentions towards the feud furtherly conflicting.
Many fans of Charli xcx claim that Swift misinterpreted “Sympathy is a knife,” and was overly harsh with “Actually Romantic,” arguing that it is completely about anxiety and solely references the singer due to the fact that Charli xcx feels insecure around Swift’s overwhelming success. This statement is supported by the lyrics in the chorus of Charli xcx’s song, where she expresses, “Cause I couldn’t even be her if I tried… I’m opposite, I’m on the other side.”
The two fanbases are now clashing and arguing with one another, trying to defend their favorite popstar. Both sides of the dispute are relatively understandable, but the beef ultimately seems unnecessary, especially for the public eye to see.