Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, is out now — and fans have already pinpointed a track that seems to be about the pop star’s relationship with fellow artist Charli XCX.
After Showgirl dropped on Friday, October 3, Swifties quickly zeroed on track 7, “Actually Romantic,” as possibly being about Charli, 33.
“I heard you call me boring Barbie when the coke’s got your brain / High-fived my ex and then said you’re glad he ghosted me,” Swift, 35, begins in the first verse. “Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face / Some people might be offended.”
In the chorus, she continues, “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.”
Fans Think Charli XCX References Taylor Swift and Matty Healy in New Song
Both Charli and Swift have denied there’s any beef between them, but fans have long believed that Charli’s 2024 track “Sympathy Is a Knife” includes references to Swift. In that song, Charli sings, “This one girl taps my insecurities / Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling.”
In one verse, Charli says she doesn’t want to see the aforementioned girl “backstage” at her boyfriend’s show, which is what initially led to the Swift speculation. The boyfriend in question is Charli’s now-husband, George Daniel, who is the drummer for The 1975. Swift previously dated The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.
“Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick,” Charli adds.
Swift’s song doesn’t mention anyone by name, but some fans connected the “coke” reference to Charli, who sang about having “a little line” on her 2024 hit “365.”
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In the bridge, meanwhile, Swift sings, “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.”
Last year, both singers denied any bad blood between them, with Charli saying that “Sympathy Is a Knife” is about her own insecurities rather than any one woman.
“People are gonna think what they want to think,” the “Von Dutch” singer told New York Magazine in August 2024. “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.”
Swift, for her part, praised Charli in the same article, telling the outlet that she’s a big fan of her work.
“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,” Swift said at the time. “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.”
The Life of a Showgirl is out now.
