""I heard you call me 'boring Barbie' when the coke's got your brain," Swift opens the track. "High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me." In just a few lines, Swift calls Charli out for being mean to her during their overlap dating Matty Healy and George Daniel of the 1975 and for supporting Healy (who's now engaged to Charli's friend Gabriette) when he ghosted her."
""Sympathy is a knife" is not really a diss track in the classical sense - it's about Charli knowing she's having unreasonable feelings when confronted by a more successful artist on what she thought was her turf. But on "Actually Romantic," Swift is pretty offended by it anyway and has no such time for analyzing her feelings about Charli beyond her claimed lack of them. "I know you think it comes off vicious but it's precious, adorable / Like a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse / That's how much it hurts," Swift sings instead."
Taylor Swift's album The Life of a Showgirl was released October 3, with the 12-song set including "Actually Romantic" at its midpoint. "Actually Romantic" targets Charli XCX without naming her, referencing insults, drug use, and a high-five with Swift's ex that celebrated ghosting. Swift references Charli's song "Sympathy is a knife" from Brat and frames Charli's jealousy and criticism as offensive rather than worthy of empathy. The track uses pointed imagery and similes to minimize Charli's barbs, turning the alleged insults into something Swift finds dismissible and even amusing.
Read at Vulture
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