Taylor Swift has added fuel to the rumours that her new song Actually Romantic is about fellow pop star Charli XCX after fans speculated they were feuding.
The former tour mates appear to be at the centre of a growing row, thanks to her seemingly pointed words about Charli’s ‘coke habit’ in the track, which features on Taylor’s new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
Singer Charli, 33, met the American pop star, 35, through her 1975 star husband George Daniel, when Taylor was briefly dating the band’s frontman Matty Healy.
But there appears to be no love loss between the two women, as Taylor has seemingly retaliated to Charli’s song which is believed to be about her.
Sharing a strikingly similar title to Charli’s 2018 track Everything Is Romantic, Taylor sings: ‘I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave.’
Many listeners interpreted as a pointed jab the singer, who has openly referenced drug use in her own music.
Taylor Swift has added fuel to the rumours that her new song Actually Romantic is about fellow pop star Charli XCX after fans speculated they were feuding (pictured together n 2014)
The former tour mates appear to be at the centre of a growing row, thanks to her seemingly pointed words about Charli’s ‘coke habit’ in the track, which features on Taylor’s new album, The Life Of A Showgirl (Taylor pictured in the video for her new song, The Fate of Ophelia)
Doing little to quash the speculation at The Official Release Party for the album, Taylor opened up about the song’s lyrics, saying: ‘[It’s] a love letter to someone who hates you …
‘There can be this moment where it’s unveiled to you, through things that they do that are very overt. And, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve just started to be like, “Oh my God, you did so much with this. It’s flattering.
“That is, wow, that is very, very sweet of you to think about me this much, even if it’s negative. In my industry, attention is affection, and you’ve given me a whole lot of it.’
Actually Romantic features the lyrics: ‘I heard you call me Boring Barbie when the coke’s got you brave / High-fived my ex and then 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.’
It comes after Charli was rumoured to have written a song about Taylor called Sympathy Is A Knife which featured on her hit album Brat.
In the song, Charli sand: ‘Don’t know if I’m spiralling/ One voice tells me that they laugh/ George says I’m just paranoid/
‘Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show/ Fingers crossed behind my back/ I hope they break up real quick.’
In February, Taylor was seen dancing as Charli sang Von Dutch at this year’s Grammy Awards – where her album Brat was nominated for a whopping eight gongs
The former tour mates appear to be at the centre of a feud, thanks in part to pointed words about Charli’s ‘coke habit’ in the track on Taylor’s new album, The Life Of A Showgirl
Taylor gave further clues about Actually Romantic’s subject in an audio track-by-track breakdown of the new album for Amazon Music, in which she said: ‘[It’s] a song about realising that someone else has kind of had a one-sided, adversarial relationship with you that you didn’t know about.
‘And all of a sudden they start doing too much and they start letting you know that actually, you’ve been living in their head rent-free and you had no idea.’
In February, Taylor was seen dancing as Charli sang Von Dutch at this year’s Grammy Awards – where her album Brat was nominated for a whopping eight gongs.
Fan’s shared their thoughts on social media and claimed Taylor was ‘never a feminist’ and branded her lyrics as ‘ridiculously corny.’
They wrote on X: ‘Taylor Swift making a diss track towards Charli xcx just proves she was never a feminist and released versions only to block women on billboard’;
‘F*** you, Taylor “Boring Barbie” Swift. Just admit you’re jealous of Charli xcx’; ‘Taylor’s new album attempting to diss Charli but the lyrics are ridiculously corny’
‘Charli could make The Life of a Showgirl but Taylor couldn’t make Brat and that’s all there is to it really’;
‘I’m sorry but the life of a showgirl is one of Tay’s weakest albums in my opinion. It’s pretty basic and I don’t understand the random Charli diss.’
Sharing a strikingly similar title to Charli’s 2018 track Everything Is Romantic, Taylor sings: ‘I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave’
Fan’s shared their thoughts on social media and claimed Taylor was ‘never a feminist’ and branded her lyrics as ‘ridiculously corny’
Meanwhile, others disagreed adding: ‘Some people are getting way too brave about this album. Taylor’s worst song is still better than Charli’s best song mind you’
Meanwhile, others disagreed adding: ‘Some people are getting way too brave about this album. Taylor’s worst song is still better than Charli’s best song mind you’;
‘The way Taylor was dancing her a** off to Charli’s performance knowing damn well she has a whole song written about her waiting to be released she’s so funny I love her.’
Daily Mail contacted Taylor’s representative for comment at the time.
Taylor’s lyrics include: ‘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’ – seemingly a reference to Charli’s friendship with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, whom Taylor briefly dated in 2023.
She also hints that the singer in question is seemingly obsessed with her, adding: ‘But it’s actually sweet / All the time you’ve spent on me / It’s honestly wild.’
The pair have known each other for years – with Taylor bringing Charli out as a support act on her 2018 reputation tour – but, more recently, many have speculated there is growing bad blood between the pair.
Charli, whose real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is married to George, meaning she has grown closer with his bandmate Matty in recent years.
Matty himself is now engaged to model Gabbriette Bechtel, a long-time friend of Charli who has previously appeared in her music videos.
The pair have known each other for years – with Taylor bringing Charli out as a support act on her 2018 reputation tour
Charli, George, Matty and Gabbriette recently enjoyed a beach trip together as a four on a beach, before Charli and George tied the knot in a stunning ceremony in Sicily last month – a move that seems far removed from her former tour mate.
During Taylor’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour, Charli opened for the 14-time Grammy Award winner on more than 50 nights.
But the first hint of trouble seemed to brew the following year in 2019, as while speaking to Pitchfork, Charli said: ‘As an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to 5-year-olds.’
She went on to say following the tour she it made her decide to never open for anyone again.
Charli added: ‘I’ve done so much of it, and it really cemented my status as this underdog character, I need to just own my own f***ing s*** finally.’
Following backlash, she later took to her social media to say her comments had been taken out of context, insisting: ‘As I say in the article and have said many times before, I am extremely grateful to Taylor for inviting me to open for her.
‘She’s one of the biggest artists of my generation and the Reputation tour was one of the biggest tours in history.’
She said that, prior to the tour, she had been playing ’18+ club shows’ and performing for ‘all ages’ had been ‘new to me’.
