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Taylor Swift’s fans are sure that the pop star made a harsh jab at Charli XCX in one of the supposedly leaked tracks from her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl.
Apart from the song, Actually Romantic, having a remarkably similar title to Charli’s 2018 track, Everything is Romantic, there is a particularly biting line that seems to reference her former tour companion.
‘I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave,’ Swift sings, with many listeners interpreting this as a direct swipe at Charli, who has openly mentioned drug use in her music.
On her Brat single, 365, Charli sings: ‘Should we do a little key? Should we have a little line?’
The speculation has reignited long-simmering talk of a rift between the two pop stars, who were once close friends.
Per Page Six, one Reddit user declared: ‘That line is 100% about Charli. No one else has called her “Boring Barbie.”‘
Taylor Swift’s dedicated fans are in turmoil after they spotted what they perceive as a vicious dig at Charli XCX within one of the leaked tracks from her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl.
Another wrote on X: ‘Taylor is DONE being nice — this is shade with a capital S.’
‘What happens if I’m a Charli and Taylor fan?’ a third asked.
Others pointed out that it was presumptuous to assume the song or lyric was about Charli.
‘Why are we ruling out the fact it could be about Matty [Healy]? Or literally anyone else? You heard coke and assumed Charli,’ one argued.
During Taylor’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour, Charli opened for the 14-time Grammy Award winner on over 50 nights.
However, in the intervening years, their friendship has cooled, and Charli has become closer to The 1975’s frontman, Matty Healy, who briefly dated Swift in 2023 after marrying Healy’s bandmate, George Daniel.
Last year, fans speculated that Charli’s 2024 track, Sympathy is a Knife, was inspired by Swift.
In the lyrics, Swift also mentions, ‘Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back / I hope they break up quick,’ suggesting a woman lingering backstage at The 1975 concerts.
In addition to the song in question, Actually Romantic, sharing a similar title to Charli’s track Everything is Romantic, one particularly scathing line seemed to allude directly to her former tour mate; seen in 2021
‘I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave,’ Swift sings, in a lyric that many listeners interpreted as a pointed jab at Charli, who has referenced drug use in her own music
In another verse, Charli admits the woman she is talking about brings out all her ‘insecurities.’
This wasn’t the first time Charli made headlines for seemingly dissing Swift.
Back in 2019, she raised eyebrows by saying her stint opening for Swift sometimes felt like she was ‘getting up on stage and waving to five-year-olds’.
The remark sparked backlash from Swift’s fanbase, forcing Charli to clarify that she hadn’t meant any disrespect — just that she was adjusting to performing for an all-ages stadium crowd instead of her typical 18+ club audiences.
Still, Swift has publicly praised Charli in recent years, even telling New York Magazine in 2024 that she has been ‘blown away’ by her songwriting since first hearing 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,’ she said.
During Taylor’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour, Charli opened for the 14-time Grammy Award winner on over 50 nights
Back in 2019, Charli raised eyebrows by saying her stint opening for Swift sometimes felt like she was ‘getting up on stage and waving to five-year-olds’
Earlier this year, the Cruel Summer singer seemed to brush off any feud rumors while dancing during Charli’s Grammys performance.
Last year, Charli demanded an end to alleged chants of ‘Taylor is dead!’ at her concerts immediately, calling it ‘disturbing’.
The singer took to her Instagram Stories to respond after being informed that some of her fans had been shouting the hateful message about Swift during her gigs.
Calling for it to stop, she declared that it is ‘the opposite of what I want’ and warned that she would ‘not tolerate it’.
After a concert in São Paulo, Brazil in June 2024, someone shared a number of videos of attendees appearing to chant ‘A Taylor Morreu’, which translates in English to ‘Taylor is dead’.
The fan addressed Charli, saying: ‘Hey @charli_xcx, your Brazilian fans have been showing toxic behaviour by screaming “Taylor is dead!” in your concerts and events related to you.
‘Could you do something about it? We don’t [believe] that’s what music should be about.’
Swift has publicly praised Charli in recent years, even telling New York Magazine in 2024 that she has been ‘blown away’ by her songwriting since first hearing Stay Away in 2011
Sharing a screenshot of the tweet, Charli replied on her Instagram, writing: ‘can the people who do this please stop. online or at my shows.
‘it is the opposite of what i want and it disturbs me that anyone would think there is room for this in this community. i will not tolerate it.’
Fans have long speculated that Charli and Taylor have bad blood, with the two singers’ latest albums battling in the charts.
Charli’s sixth studio album has won rave reviews, debuting as the ‘most critically acclaimed record of the year’ over Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Taylor’s latest record, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD).
Ranking number one on Metacritic, Brat received ‘universal acclaim’ based on a score of 92 out of 100 from 11 critics scores.
