Ever since Charli xcx released brat, fans have been convinced that the track “Sympathy is a Knife” was about Taylor Swift. Despite Charli refuting these claims, the compelling lyrics have seen the fan theory live on and gain so much traction that even Taylor is doing her bit to nip them in the bud.
In an interview with New York Magazine, Taylor gushed about Charli and her latest release.
“I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘Stay Away’ in 2011,” she told the publication.
“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 payoff.”
The song —which explores Charli’s feelings of inadequacy in the music industry — certainly isn’t a dig.
It’s an exploration of her own anxiety in a space where she feels she’ll never be good enough despite her success. In the track, Charli admits that she’s guilty of comparing herself to someone else in the industry and these lyrics undoubtedly point to Taylor.
The lyrics in question?
“Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show. Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick ‘cos I couldn’t even be her if I tried. I’m opposite, I’m on the other side.”
It’s an absolute bop and you can listen to it below.
Charli is currently engaged to The 1975’s drummer George Daniel. Back in May 2023, Taylor was dating The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy. It’s all adding up now, isn’t it?
However, when asked about the lyrics, Charli denied it was about Taylor.
“People are gonna think what they want to think,” the brat icon told New York Magazine.
“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.”
Taylor and Charli have had a relationship for yonks. Back in 2018, Charli was one of the openers for Taylor’s world tour, alongside Camilla Cabello. At the time, it was a huge break for Charli but very different to what she was used to — and made Charli decide that she’d never open for another artist again.
“I’m really grateful that [Taylor] asked me on that tour but as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to 5-year-olds,” she told Pitchfork in 2019.
Before brat was released in June, Charli made it clear to fans that there were no diss tracks on the album.
“I just wanted to come on here and clarify that there aren’t. Apart from ‘Von Dutch’ which kind of is, but the other tracks in question aren’t diss tracks,” she said.
“They’re really just about how it’s so complicated being an artist, especially a female artist, where you are pitted against your peers but also expected to be best friends with every single person constantly. And if you’re not, you’re like, deemed a bad feminist. And that to me is just, like, such an unrealistic expectation.”
Despite the statement, we later found out that “Girl, So Confusing” was really about Lorde but then they worked it out on the remix and we were blessed with one of the most beautiful moments of female solidarity of the decade.
When it comes to Charli and Taylor, I think it’s safe to say the two artists are colleagues who admire each the
The post Taylor Swift Praises Charli xcx Amidst Rumours Brat Track ‘Sympathy Is A Knife’ Is About Her appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
