Taylor Swift finally responded to the rumors that she and Charli XCX had a rift. The Tortured Poets Department singer broke her silence in a statement in a Vulture profile of the Brat artist.
She told the culture site, “I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘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.”
Fans have been speculating that there had been a rift between the two when Swift shared a positive Billboard review about her album The Tortured Poets Department. Charli quote tweeted the post, “everyone’s hype for the sweat tour!” referencing the Fall 2024 tour she’s headlining with Troye Sivan.
Shortly after Charli released Brat, one of the songs on the album “Sympathy is a Knife” was speculated to be about Swift, who had a two-month long fling with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy. Charli, meanwhile, is engaged to the band’s drummer George Daniel. “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick,” Charli sings.
Related: See Taylor Swift’s dating history including Matty Healy & Travis Kelce
Further rift between the two was speculated when Taylor Swift released another edition of The Tortured Poets Department and was accused by Charli’s fans of chart-blocking Brat on the UK Charts when it first dropped. A stolen win isn’t a real win, charli xcx is the winner SAY WHAT YOU WANT IDC, [sic]” tweeted one fan. “Taylor swift is greedy and the farthest thing from a feminist, at least Charli has talent, [sic]” said another.
At a Brat themed DJ sets in Sao Paolo, Brazil, her fans chanted “Taylor is dead!” in Portuguese after the chart rift allegations. Charli immediately took to Instagram to post a story, condemning the behavior: “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.”
Despite an alleged rift, Charli remains to be amicable about the situation. She went on TikTok to make a Brat PSA that none of her songs are diss tracks. “It’s so complicated,” she explains in the TikTok, being “a female artist, where you are pitted against your peers but also expected to be best friends with every single person constantly. If you’re not, you’re deemed a bad feminist.”
Related: The Charli XCX & Lorde Feud Explained & How They Really Worked It Out on the Remix
Charli opened for Taylor during her 2018 Reputation tour. The “Boys” singer told Pitchfork she felt like she “was getting up onstage and waving to 5-year-olds” during her experiences with Swift. She later apologized for that statement.
As for the true meaning of “Sympathy is a Knife,” the singer is keeping mum about the subject. “People are gonna think what they want to think,” she 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.”
After Charli collaborated with Lorde on her track “Girl, so confusing,” she talked to The Guardian about how the media pits women against each other. “Relationships between women are super-complex and multi-layered,” she said. “You can like someone and dislike them at the same time; you can feel jealous of somebody but they can still be your friend.”
