Is Taylor Swift one of the ‘mean girls’ Charli XCX was talking about? The mixed reviews of her new album suggest she might be.
Released on Oct. 3, 2025, “The Life of a Showgirl” has divided fans — some love its ‘70s pop-inspired feel, while others say it lacks the sparkle of her previous records and borrows too heavily from other artists.
A bigger reaction, however, has come from TikTok — specifically around the song “Actually Romantic,” which listeners speculate is aimed at Charli XCX.
That theory ties back to XCX’s track “Sympathy is a knife” off her “BRAT” album, which was released in summer 2024. In it, she reflects on her insecurities while seeing another woman backstage with her boyfriend at The 1975’s shows. Many speculated she was referencing Swift and her brief relationship with Matty Healy, who was in the same band as XCX’s now-husband, George Daniel.
“Actually Romantic” begins with the lyric: “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave.” TikTok users speculated this was Swift’s response to XCX’s lyric in “Sympathy is a knife.”
The alleged diss has sparked backlash. Critics argue Swift missed the point of XCX’s song, which was more about vulnerability than rivalry. XCX speaks on the nuance of insecurity and doesn’t directly put blame for her feelings onto Swift. “I feel all these feelings I can’t control,” she said.
XCX opened for Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018 and even performed “Shake It Off” with her during one show. In an interview after the tour, XCX said that while she was grateful for the opportunity, she sometimes felt like she was “waving to a crowd of five-year-olds” and getting upstaged.
XCX has addressed the speculation, saying that the only song on “BRAT” that could be seen as a diss track is “Von dutch.” Swift has not commented on the situation. The speculation may never be confirmed, but the debate has highlighted the complicated history between the two artists and the way fans on TikTok drive the narrative around new music. Whether “Actually Romantic” was aimed at XCX or not, the lyric has already become one of the most talked about from “The Life of a Showgirl.”
