The rumours Taylor Swift was dropping a Charli XCX diss track on her new album The Life of a Showgirl have been more or less confirmed now the album’s in our hands – and it’s unfortunately as woeful as the lyrics that leaked suggested. This is truly a terrible time to be a Taylor Swift fan. The album sucks, apart from a couple of songs, and the track Actually Romantic is the most embarrassing of the lot. The whole thing reeks of Taylor Swift locking in the studio to create a diss track towards Charli XCX you can tell she thinks absolutely devoured. But the lashings Taylor has got here are moot compared to the simple matter of how unnecessary it all is – and how she completely missed the point, mark target – everything.
Wait, what is going on?
Taylor Swift has dropped Actually Romantic – a song widely believed to be a diss track response to Charli XCX for a song that is also widely assumed to be about Taylor. Except, that song isn’t really about Taylor at all – but more on that later. Actually Romantic sees Taylor Swift accuse its subject of calling her “a boring Barbie when the coke’s got you brave”. It also says that the subject is high fiving Taylor’s ex Matty Healy. Both things Charli XCX would be likely to do – considering she famously is bumpin’ that and she’s good friends with Matty.
The song is petty, and says that the subject is so obsessed with Taylor that it’s ‘actually Romantic.’ The key thing here being of course that on Brat, Charli had a song called Everything is Romantic.
Taylor Swift is so off the mark
Despite the fact Taylor Swift calls herself “our English teacher” – it appears she can’t understand any nuance in lyrics. Whilst the lyrics of Sympathy is a Knife refer to a huge pop star that Charli XCX hates to see and has to “fake a smile” backstage at her boyfriend George Daniels’ 1975 gig, they’re not really about that person. She hopes they “break up quick” but not for any other reason than for her own sanity.
Sympathy is a Knife, like most of Brat, does not paint Charli XCX in the positive light. She’s being paranoid, self critical and insecure. The success of Taylor Swift and having to be around her makes Charli full of self doubt. If anything, Sympathy is a Knife is not a diss track to anyone beyond Charli – and Taylor is doing nothing. She’s an unwilling and unknowing catalyst.
But Actually Romantic is personal and vicious. The meaning just went entirely over Taylor’s head. By releasing this Charli XCX diss track amongst an album that is far from her best work, it’s lowkey proving to me that the godly writer Taylor Swift once was has slipped away lost into an abyss of buying into your own billionaire hype.
For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook.
Taylor Swift image credit: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggot. Supplied by publicist.
