Taylor Swift Fans Think She's Dissing Charli XCX On The Life Of A Showgirl

Taylor Swift arriving at the VMAs in 2022Taylor Swift has unveiled her new album The Life Of A Showgirl – and one song has already got pop fans up in arms.When the lyrics to track seven, Actually Romantic, began doing the rounds online, people quickly came to the conclusion that Taylor had written a diss track aimed at fellow chart-topping singer Charli XCX.She and Charli have had an up-and-down relationship over the years, dating back to 2017, when the 360 singer was the opening act on Taylor’s Reputation stadium tour.Two years afterwards, Charli told Pitchfork: “I’m really grateful that she asked me on that tour. But as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to five-year-olds.”Charli XCX at the premiere of her film Sacrifice last monthMore recently, Charli released the song Sympathy Is A Knife, the lyrics of which make veiled references to Taylor.While many outlets misreported that Sympathy Is A Knife was a diss track about Taylor, the Brat cut actually saw Charli admitting to how being around the Grammy winner when they were both dating members of The 1975 made her feel insecure.“This one girl taps my insecurities, don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling,” Charli sang on its opening verse, later adding on the chorus: “I couldn’t even be her if I tried I’m opposite, I’m on the other side.”Later in the song, Charli admitted to not wanting to “see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show”, and keeping her “fingers crossed” that “they”, alluding to Taylor and her ex Matty Healy, “break up soon”, so these feelings would subside.At the time, it didn’t appear as though Taylor had any hard feelings about the song, singing Charli’s praises to New York magazine and throwing shapes to the British star’s performance at the Grammys earlier this year.However, it seems her feelings towards Charli may have been more complicated than she let on.Taylor’s new song Actually Romantic opens with the lyric: “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave. [You] high-fived my ex and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me. [You] wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.”“It’s actually sweet, all the time you’ve spent on me,” Taylor then sings on the chorus. “It’s honestly wild all the effort you’ve put in. It’s actually romantic.”Fans quickly jumped to the conclusion that Taylor was throwing shade in Charli’s direction on the new song, which has sparked a mixed reaction online.While some have given Actually Romantic the thumbs up, others have found it an interesting choice, given Sympathy Is A Knife was not intended as a diss towards Taylor (although some have pointed out the lyrics to the Anti-Hero singer’s track make it seem like there was more going on behind the scenes):actually romantic being a charli diss oh pic.twitter.com/RcIq0oSTSR— meghan❤️🔥🫶 (@yodorothea) October 3, 2025Charli xcx listening to “Actually Romantic” #TSTheLifeOfAShowgirlpic.twitter.com/qS7jBnhGdY— liviecabello (@liviecabello) October 3, 2025THE ACTUALLY ROMANTIC LYRICS OH SHE IS POPPING CHARLI OHMYGODOSJKZKZKKZ pic.twitter.com/aIMngAPQY9— bri bri™️ (@certifiedlvrbri) October 2, 2025how pressing play on actually romantic for the first time felt as a taylor AND charli fan pic.twitter.com/3LYmam0U9N— lucie IS FINE! (@mapofthedodie) October 3, 2025charli wrote a nuanced track that actually delved into the complex emotions of being compared to more successful women in the industry and then being forced into close proximity to them and feeling sad about it.taylor wrote a shitty diss track because she missed the point. https://t.co/ZPSNfF7TSu— charlie (@charliequinn_) October 2, 2025i read the lyrics to actually romantic and honestly…. i think she misunderstood sympathy is a knife pic.twitter.com/SoFQjQCDQ1— aram 🐏 (@aramnotagoat) October 2, 2025the first line in actually romantic makes it very clear it's not a response to sympathy is a knife.... it's a response to charli talking shit about her for no reason https://t.co/3Oh003xXVG— nanda ❤️🔥 (@RUSHEIIS) October 2, 2025Taylor is the funniest person alive bc look at her dancing to Charli while 'actually romantic' was fully hot n ready in the drive pic.twitter.com/FAAEQM3iV9— c.🏹 (@aIiencam) October 2, 2025it’s kinda clear that actually romantic is about some behind the scenes stuff with charli and her friends we don’t know about and not about sympathy is a knife pic.twitter.com/qnIwDDR0Tj— :/ (@theshapeburns) October 2, 2025the idea that actually romantic is only about sympathy is a knife is crazy… like she is quite obviously hearing charli is saying shit— ryan (@icanbeaphantom) October 3, 2025Taylor sending a positive quote to this magazine about Charli with a fully cooked Actually Romantic up her ass https://t.co/sV0WHYPPfdpic.twitter.com/utgbfGvk8O— ryan (@holiestdreams) October 2, 2025if Actually Romantic is really a Charli xcx diss track, this is Actually Funny pic.twitter.com/4e8FWKdTcV— 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𖤐 (@meldicis) October 3, 2025she was doing this while having actually romantic sitting in her hard drive. funniest woman ever pic.twitter.com/wsRwCWCOC8— fran ❤️🔥 (@SELSREP) October 3, 2025When Taylor and Charli work it out on the Actually Sympathy Is A So Confusingly Romantic Knife remix/Mashup and Lorde is also there for some reason pic.twitter.com/ic54gIG4Dx— MisterJ🩻❤️🔥 (@SwiftCraft13) October 2, 2025HuffPost UK has contacted Taylor Swift and Charli XCX’s teams for comment.Amid the speculation that there was beef between Taylor and Charli, the former told New York magazine last year: “I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard Stay Away in 2011.“Her writing is surreal and inventive, always. She just takes a song to places you wouldn’t expect it to go, and she’s been doing it consistently for over a decade. I love to see hard work like that pay off.”Charli also said in a TikTok around the release of Brat: “I’m seeing online that some people think there are diss tracks on Brat. I just wanted to come on here and clarify that there aren’t.“The tracks in question aren’t diss tracks, they’re really just about how it’s so complicated being an artist, especially a female artist, where you are pitted against your peers but also expected to be best friends with every single person constantly, and if you’re not, you’re, like, deemed a bad feminist. And that, to me, is such an unrealistic expectation. “So yeah, these songs are about 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, some days you can feel like literal trash, and it’s really emotional and complicated to deal with, and you’re not supposed to talk about it, but these songs do talk about it. And I’ll probably be chastised for that.”MORE MUSIC NEWS:Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball Has Finally Arrived In The UK – And It’s The Best Thing She’s Ever DoneMariah Carey Reflects On Infamous Jennifer Lopez 'I Don't Know Her' ShadeLola Young Cancels Work Commitments 'For The Foreseeable Future' To 'Work On Myself'

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