Did Taylor Swift just release a diss track about Charli XCX? Feud timeline explained after 'Actually Romantic' bombshell

The Life Of A Showgirl, Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, has just been released and one song has got fans talking. Actually Romantic may sound like a love song from the singer-songwriter, but the lyric uncover a hidden meaning behind the song, with some music fans claiming that Taylor has just released a diss track about Charli XCX.

With this possible bombshell, here’s everything you need to know about the pair’s links throughout the years and why fans think Taylor may be shading Charli on her new album.

Is Actually Romantic about Charli XCX?

Rumours began flying that Taylor had put Charli XCX on blast on her new song Actually Romantic when leaks of the lyrics hit social media. Fans quickly jumped to the conclusion that Taylor was calling out the Von Dutch singer.

Actually Romantic is about how Taylor feels that the unidentified subject’s obsession with talking about her is, in fact, actually romantic in some aspects. While jabs and barbs made at the ridicule of Taylor are mentioned, she reframes this as the subject being so obsessed with her that they can’t stop thinking about her, much like an obsessive lover.

For context, music fans believe that Charli XCX’s song Sympathy Is A Knife, which featured on her 2024 album Brat, is speaking about her experiences with Taylor. In the song, Charli laments on the pressures of being compared to and comparing herself to another female artist and the anguish this causes her.

She speak about how the unnamed star “taps into my insecurities” and how she “couldn’t even be her if I tried”. Charli even references seeing the star “backstage at my boyfriend’s show” - this line in particular led to fans connecting dots and theorising that Taylor was the girl making her insecure, as Taylor was dating The 1975 lead singer Matty Healy at the time, who is a bandmate of Charli’s now-husband George Daniel.

‘Actually Romantic’ may also be a nod toward Charli’s other Brat track ‘Everything Is Romantic’.

Taylor Swift and Charli XCX feud timeline

Taylor and Charli meet at the iHeart Radio's Jingle Ball - December 2014

Charli and Taylor’s first recorded meeting was at the iHeart Radio's Jingle Ball in New York in December 2014. Taylor, who was in the midst of her 1989 era, was on the bill for the concerts in new York City and Los Angeles, as was Charli, who was celebrating the success of her singles including ‘Boom Clap’, ‘Break The Rules’ and ‘Fancy’.

They even shared a photograph together, indicating that everything was peachy between the two at this point.

Charli covers Taylor in the Radio 1 Live Lounge - February 2015

Charli visited the BBC Radio 1 studios in February 2015, where she was set to perform in the station’s iconic Live Lounge. As part of the Live Lounge, acts will perform one of their own tracks live as well as choosing another song to cover.

Charli chose to cover Taylor’s song Shake It Off, which had just been released as a single from 1989.

Charli is a special guest on 1989 World Tour - October 2015

In October 2015, the pair performed on stage together for the very first time. Charli was invited to perform her hit single Boom Clap alongside the superstar during a show in Toronto, Canada.

Charli supports Taylor on tour - 2018

Taylor and Charli’s complicated relationship began when Charli was named as a support act for Taylor’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour. Charli was one of the support acts at all shows on the tour, which saw Taylor travel the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia.

Charli later opened up on her experience of being brought on the road with Taylor, telling Pitchfork in 2019: “I’m really grateful that (Taylor) asked me on that tour. But as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to 5-year-olds.”

When her comments drew criticism from Swifties, she attempted to clarify her comments on social media. In a tweet, the British musician said: “People on the Internet have taken something I said out of context. As I say in the article and have said many times before, I am extremely grateful to Taylor for inviting me to open for her. She’s one of the biggest artists of my generation and the Reputation tour was one of the biggest tours in history.”

She added: “In the printed version of this much wider conversation my answers about this tour were boiled down into one kid of weird sentence - leading up to that tour I’d been playing a tonne of 18+ club shows and so to be on stage in front of all ages was new to me and made me approach my performance with a whole new kind of energy - more so I talked about how it was brilliant opening for Taylor, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given and how much fun it was to perform to a new audience!”

Taylor makes a surprise appearance at The 1975’s London show - January 2023

Fast forward a few years and Taylor shocked music fans when she made a surprise appearance as a special guest at The 1975’s show at The O2 Arena in London. Being pre-Eras Tour, Taylor perform ‘Anti-Hero’ for the first time and also covered The 1975’s track ‘The City’.

Charli was already dating The 1975 drummer George Daniel at this point, having publicly announced their romance in 2022. While we have no proof that the pair crossed paths backstage (or if Charli was even in attendance) at the show, it brought the two women closer in orbit years after the Reputation tour. Charli would go on to appear as a special surprise guest at The 1975’s Manchester show on the same tour.

Taylor begins dating Matty Healy - May 2023

Following her break-up from Joe Alwyn in early 2023, rumours began swirling that Taylor has hooked up with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy. According to reports, the whirlwind romance only lasted a few months. However, this meant that Taylor and Charli were definitely crossing paths once again, as Charli continued to date Matty’s bandmate George.

Charli releases Brat - June 2024

Charli released her biggest album to date, Brat, in june 2024. The album became a cultural phenomenon, with ‘brat summer’ becoming a familiar term during this time.

It was also the first time that fans had the chance to heard ‘Sympathy Is A Knife’, which, as previously mentioned, was quickly deduced to be about Taylor. She appeared to draw on her experiences on the Reputation tour, as well as mentioning seeing her backstage at The 1975 shows.

Not only that, but she featured Matty Healy now-fiancée Gabriette in the video for her song ‘360’. Starring alongside a host of other famous names including Julia Fox and Rachel Sennott, Gabriette shared a meme on Instagram which appeared to be a nod to Taylor. The meme read: “Its the bad blood music video but for girls that do coke.”

Charli’s New York Magazine cover story - August 2024

In August 2024, at the height of Brat-mania, Charli graced the cover of New York Magazine. She was photographed by David LaChapelle for the cover, but some Swifties read into the images as a slight on Taylor.

The photoshoot featured Charli alongside a severed hand with friendship bracelets around the wrists. Friendship bracelets have been a symbol used by Swifties after Taylor released the song ‘You’re On Your Own, Kid’, which features the lyric: “Make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”

Swifties were quick to jump to the conclusion that a severed hand with friendship bracelet was an attempt at a sly dig by Charli towards Taylor, with some even branding the imagery “tone deaf” and “disgusting” after the Southport stabbings, in which three young girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class just the weeks prior.

LaChappelle later clarified the imagery he used in the photoshoot, saying: “She’s sort of trapped by fame and all the tabloid photographers are chasing her. An animal trapped in the woods would bite off its own limb – she bites off her hand.

“As she lies on the stretcher, you see people still taking photos of her, the paparazzi and the fans. People will watch the rise as much as they’ll watch the fall. Then she’s brought to the hospital and probably given some sort of painkiller. She’s hallucinating. She’s stuck in a dreamscape, but in the end, she frees herself.”

In the same New York Magazine cover magazine interview, Charli commented on links fans had made between Taylor and her song ‘Sympathy Is A Knife’. She said: “People are gonna think what they want to think. 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 even offered up a comment to the magazine in relation to the topic, saying: “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.”

Taylor dances to Charli’s Grammy performance - February 2025

Both stars were in attendance for the 2025 Grammy Awards, with Charli performing her hit song ‘Guess’ during the ceremony. Taylor was in attendance and fans spotted the superstar dancing merrily along to the performance with a bottle of champagne in hand.

Fans have now figured out that Taylor would have already written and recorded Actually Romantic at this point, with one fan saying on social media: “Taylor was dancing to that woman's performance at the Grammys knowing damn well she got a song that will make her MORE insecure.”

The Life Of A Showgirl releases - October 2025

That bring us up to date as Taylor releases her 12th studio album, featuring the track ‘Actually Romantic’. Speaking about the song, Taylor has said: “It's a song about realizing that someone else has kind of had a one-sided, adversarial relationship with you that you didn’t know about. And all of a sudden they start doing too much and they start letting you know that actually, you’ve been living in their head rent-free and you had no idea.

“It’s presenting itself as them sort of resenting you or having a problem with you but you take that and just accept it as love and you accept it as attention and affection, and how flattering that somebody has made you such a big part of their reality when you didn’t even think about this. It’s actually pretty romantic if you really think about it.”