What's going on between Taylor Swift and Charli XCX? A timeline of the alleged feud between the two stars, leading up to the direct diss tracks aimed at Charli XCX on Swift's new album

The bomb has dropped: Taylor Swift has released her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, and the internet has exploded. The spark that set off the blast? A track titled Actually Romantic, which sounds like a precision weapon aimed straight at Charli XCX. Fans, now transformed into detectives with red-string corkboards, have dissected every line and found references that seem tailor-made to connect with Sympathy Is a Knife, the song Charli released last year, which (according to many) already alluded to Taylor and her brief fling with Matty Healy. On the surface, nothing is explicit: Taylor never names Charli, Charli hasn’t publicly commented on the new track. Yet, between a “boring Barbie” and “toxic romance,” the allusions are too precise to go unnoticed. Are we witnessing a real feud, or just two stars using the language of music to craft complex, ambiguous narratives that fuel hype and sales?

To make sense of it, we need to follow the fandom in CSI mode, rewind, and retrace the key steps of this pop soap opera. Month by month, like an Advent calendar, but instead of chocolate, we find cryptic hints, ambiguous interviews, and venom-laced lyrics.

Taylor Swift vs  XCX: a timeline of a complicated relationship

December 2014

It’s the era of Boom Clap and 1989 on the radio. A photo captures the first public meeting between Taylor and Charli during the iHeart Jingle Ball in New York.

February 2015

Charli performs a cover of Shake It Off on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge.

October 2015

Charli XCX joins Taylor on stage in Toronto to sing Boom Clap. After the show, Taylor posts “that was SO fun” and Charli replies, “LOVE YOU @charli_xcx!!!”.

May 2018

Charli is dominating airwaves with Boom Clap from The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack and I Love It with Icona Pop, when Taylor selects her (along with Camila Cabello) as an opening act for the Reputation World Tour. Mutual respect seems clear..

August 2019

The first crack appears. In an interview with Pitchfork, Charli reflects on opening for Taylor, saying performing in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans wasn’t ideal for her electronic music: “As an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to five-year-olds,” she said. For many, it was just a technical observation, but Swifties took it as a direct insult to Taylor and her audience. The internet did what it does best: turned a throwaway line into global scandal. Charli was flooded with backlash, memes, and accusations of ingratitude. She quickly clarified: “My words were taken out of context. I have nothing but love for Taylor and I’m grateful to have been part of that tour.” Still, in the fans’ collective memory, this became the first visible fracture in their relationship.

September 2019

A month later, Charli continued her mea culpa on the UK talk show Sunday Brunch: “She's an incredible businesswoman and she's really kind. She makes us feel, like, so welcome. It feels like a girl gang on tour, really fun.”

May 2023

Years pass, the dust seems settled. Then in May 2023, Taylor Swift is spotted with Matty Healy, frontman of The 1975, in the rebound after Joe Alwyn. Brief, controversial, much-talked-about. But here’s where the threads tangle: Charli is already romantically linked to George Daniel, drummer of The 1975. Suddenly, the British band becomes the hinge binding (and complicating) the two popstars’ destinies. Fans inevitably read into it a competitive undertone: Taylor’s ex is Charli’s fiancé’s bandmate. Too juicy for gossip not to explode.

June 2024

Enter Charli’s Brat. The album redefines underground pop aesthetics for the mainstream, earning critical acclaim and fan devotion. But one track dominates conversation: Sympathy Is a Knife. It depicts a woman’s insecurity about running into “her” backstage at her boyfriend’s show. The kicker? She crosses her fingers behind her back, hoping the relationship ends soon. Boom. To fans, the connection is obvious: that “her” is Taylor Swift, still associated in their minds with Matty Healy and The 1975. Charli later told New York Magazine the song was about her own anxieties, not Taylor. “People will think what they want to think,” she shrugged. But the internet isn’t impartial: for millions, the track was the first official shot in a feud.

August 2024

In Brazil, some concertgoers start chanting offensive things about Taylor Swift. Charli halts the show: “I won’t tolerate this, that’s not what I want in my community.” A surprising stance, defending Taylor just as online narratives pit them as rivals. The move is seen as maturity and respect. If tension exists, Charli doesn’t want it turning into an online hate train. But the internet thrives on drama, memes, Twitter threads, and TikTok dissections roll on.

October 2025

And here we are today. On October 3, 2025, Taylor Swift releases the highly anticipated The Life of a Showgirl. Among theatrical ballads and meta-pop reflections comes Actually Romantic, a track that seems like a direct reply to Charli. “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave / High-fived my ex and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me.” The reference to Matty Healy (“my ex”), the nod to Charli’s candid drug-use comments, even the title (Actually Romantic vs. Everything Is Romantic from Brat) are too specific to dismiss as coincidence. The chorus cuts even deeper, reframing Charli’s supposed obsession as a kind of hidden devotion: “But it’s actually sweet / All the time you’ve spent on me / It’s honestly wild / All the effort you’ve put in / It’s actually romantic / I really got to hand it to you / No man has ever loved me like you do.” Taylor flips Sympathy Is a Knife’s jealousy into unspoken love. A diss track that almost flirts with parody.

And now?

Are we looking at a real rivalry, or just a collective illusion fueled by drama-hungry fans? Taylor has consistently praised Charli as “surreal and inventive.” Charli has repeatedly distanced herself from toxic narratives. And yet, every lyric, every gesture gets sucked into the fandom vortex, turning two parallel careers into a global soap opera. One thing’s certain: Actually Romantic has reignited the spotlight on their relationship. For fans, the “feud” has never felt more alive. Whether it’s genuine rivalry, smart marketing, or pure storytelling, the Taylor Swift–Charli XCX saga has already cemented itself in the pop-culture pantheon of the 2020s.