Overview

• Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl arrived on October 3, featuring Actually Romantic, which many listeners and outlets interpret as an answer to Charli XCX’s Sympathy Is a Knife.
• Early verses reference being called “Boring Barbie,” an ex being congratulated, and “you wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face,” lines fans link to Charli’s 2024 track.
• In an Amazon Music interview, Swift said the song reflects discovering that someone has been in a unilateral adversarial relationship with you without your knowledge.
• Charli XCX has not commented on the new track and has previously said her songs are not attacks on specific people, while also urging fans to stop hostile chants at her shows.
• Speculation draws on past industry context, including Taylor Nation’s multiple deluxe editions released during Charli’s Brat rollout in 2024, as fans and media parse the new lyrics for veiled references without any feud being confirmed.