It sounds like Charli XCX was not a fan of Taylor Swift and Matty Healy as a couple!
After listening to her new album Brat on Friday, many fans suspect the track Sympathy Is a Knife is actually about the 34-year-old pop star! Charli begins the song by singing how “this one girl taps my insecurities” — that “girl” meaning Taylor, according to the fan theory!
Related: Taylor Swift’s Concerts Are So Popular Even GHOSTS Appear To Be Showing Up!
Charli then name-drops her fiancé, George Daniel, who is the drummer for The 1975, saying:
“Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling / One voice tells me that they laugh / George says I’m just paranoid / Says he just don’t see it, he’s so naive / I’m embarrassed to have it, but need the sympathy/ ‘Cause I couldn’t even be her if I tried / I’m opposite, I’m on the other side / I feel all these feelings I can’t control / Oh no, don’t know why all this sympathy is just a knife / Why I can’t even grit my teeth and lie?”
While Charli doesn’t explicitly name Taylor on the track, there is one very telling line later on in the song that points to this being about the Evermore artist! The songwriter hints:
“Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back / I hope they break up quick.”
Umm… Does it sound to anyone else like Charli was really rooting for Taylor and Matty to break up?!
As you know, the Cats actress had a two-month fling with The 1975 frontman last year. Fans later realized after The Tortured Poets Department focused on him how their romance actually started ten years ago — way back when they met in 2014! When Taylor and Matty had a more public relationship for that hot month in 2023, Charli was with his bandmate. (She and George later got engaged in November that year — months after Matty and Tay broke up.) She most likely got a front-row seat to all the drama between the exes! And ultimately, of course, she got her wish when they went their separate ways! Listen to the track (below):
As we mentioned, fans quickly decided Charli was referencing Taylor throughout the song. Some people even thought she was throwing shade at the Eras Tour performer! See the X (Twitter) reactions to the track (below):
“Wait is sympathy is a knife about Taylor — her boyfriend is in the 1975 … and Taylor was with Matt Healy for that blip”
“Unironically, is this Taylor Shade … ”
“It’s not shade the entire song Charlie is saying she’s insecure bc of Taylor. And the ‘sympathy is a knife’ because Taylor is nice to her and she feels like s**t that she’s so insecure about her lol.”
“sympathy is a knife being taylor shade”
“SYMPATHY IS A KNIFE BEING SO OBVIOUSLY ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT IS F**KING CRAZY
“am i crazy or is Sympathy Is A Knife about Taylor? Charli is dating George Daniels, so the show she references is probably a 1975 show, so when you read the lyrics with that in mind…”
“Na bc sympathy is a knife is clearly abt having to hang w taylor when she was w matty healy lol”
“OH MY GOD IS SYMPATHY IS A KNIFE ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT???????”
Before anyone starts thinking these two have bad blood now, Charli previously claimed on TikTok there aren’t any “diss tracks” on Brat — besides Von Dutch. They’ve also known each other for a long time. Charli was even a guest on the 1989 World Tour in 2014 and an opening act for the Reputation World Tour in 2018. So we doubt she was shading the musician! It just seems like she got vulnerable and admitted to getting insecure around Taylor sometimes — which most of us can probably relate to!
Plus, she simply confessed she wasn’t a fan of her being with Matty! And who can blame her for having those feelings? Most Swifties did, too! But we do wonder how Miss. Swift feels about the lyrics. Does she think it was shady? Hmm.
What are YOUR reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below!
[Image via The Graham Norton Show/Late Night with Seth Meyers/YouTube, MEGA/WENN]