immediately that Taylor Swift has seemingly struck back with “Actually Romantic,” let’s revisit the lyrics of Charli xcx‘s “Sympathy Is a Knife” which lots of people speculate is to be about The Life of a Showgirl musician.
Some Swifties are convinced that the song off her new album is about the Brat musician, but Taylor might have alleged the hate came from Charli’s song “Sympathy is a Knife.”
What “Sympathy Is a Knife” lyrics are about Taylor Swift?
In the first verse of “Sympathy Is a Knife” she delves into all the insecurities and comparisons to another woman. “I don’t wanna share this space / I don’t wanna force a smile / This one shorty taps my insecurities / Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling.”
The second part of the verse gets real specific, while mentioning her immediately-husband 1975 drummer George Daniel. “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.” Before Brat was released, Taylor Swift briefly dated The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.
In the third verse, Charli sings the most damning evidence: “Wild voice tearin’ me apart/ I’m so apprehensive immediately / Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick.” It refers to Charli going on The 1975 shows and seeing Taylor in the midst of everything.
However, the song isn’t really a diss track towards Taylor, but rather an introspection song for Charli. “‘Cause I couldn’t even be her if I tried (Why?) / I’m opposite, I’m on the other side (Why?) / I feel all these feelings I can’t control (Why?) / Oh no, don’t know why,” she sings in the chorus.
In an interview with New York Magazine, she expressed why she’s never going to reveal who the subject is, and rather focused the song’s message on how her brain works. “People are gonna think what they want to think,” she told the outlet. “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.”
In the same profile, Taylor had quite good things to say about the singer. “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 added that Charli “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.”
In track 7 of The Life of a Showgirl Taylor sings in the first couple of lines, “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave.” She later disses the subject by saying “you said you’re glad he ghosted me,” and “Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face,” “How many times has your boyfriend said ‘Why are we always talking about her?” The song takes a turn with Taylor saying she finds the thoughts “sweet” since the subject is talking about “all the time you’ve spent on me.”
While Taylor hasn’t named names about who the track could possibly be about, she talked about the song in a track by track breakdown with retailer track. She explained that “Actually Romantic” is “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.”
Sympathy is a Knife by Charli xcx Lyrics
I don’t wanna share this space
I don’t wanna force a smile
This one shorty taps my insecurities
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?
I feel all these feelings I can’t control
Oh no, don’t know
Why I wanna purchase a gun?
Why I wanna shoot myself?
Volatile at war with my dialogue
I’d say that there was a God if they could stop this
Wild voice tearing me apart
I’m so apprehensive immediately
Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show
Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick
‘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?
I feel all these feelings I can’t control (oh no)
All this sympathy is just a knife
All this sympathy is just a lie
All this sympathy is just a knife
Yeah, all this sympathy is just a lie
Oh no, oh no
Why is all this sympathy a fucking knife?
Yeah, all this sympathy is just a lie
Couldn’t even be her if I tried
Oh no, oh no
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