Here's What Charli XCX And Taylor Swift Said About One Another Following The "Sympathy Is A Knife" Discourse

Charli XCX and Taylor Swift commented on one another following recent speculation surrounding their relationship.

After appearing as a surprise guest on the 1989 tour, Charli was Taylor's support act for the 2019 Reputation tour, which she later said was like “Getting up onstage and waving to 5-year-olds.” The British singer then clarified that she was "extremely grateful" to Taylor and that her comments were taken out of a wider context of a discussion over her typical shows at 18+ venues.

Fast-forward to when Charli's Brat came out, featuring a song called "Sympathy Is a Knife" about her experience with a girl who "taps [her] insecurities." Given Charli's relationship with the 1975 drummer George Daniel, the lyrics "Don't wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend's show / Fingers crossed behind my back / I hope they break up quick" appeared to be a reference to Taylor's relationship with Matty Healy.

Charli then said that no song on Brat was intended to be a "diss track" and called out fans for anti-Taylor chants at her shows. However, things ramped up when Taylor was accused of blocking Charli from the #1 spot on the British charts by releasing UK-only variants of The Tortured Poets Department at the last minute.

In a new Vulture profile of Charli, she addressed the chatter surrounding "Sympathy Is a Knife" and Taylor. She explained, "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," she continued.

Charli further noted that generally joining the 1975 backstage on tour could be overwhelming: "Sometimes I’d look onstage and be like, 'Oh my God…I’m never going to play these rooms, ever.' That made me feel jealous. I told Matty that. And George. They were both like, ‘Shut up. What are you talking about?’"

When asked about whether she had considered leaving out the "backstage at my boyfriend's show" lyric, she replied, "No." After a silence, Charli added, "You do the silence game. But I know that well — where you go silent and want me to talk more. But I don’t care about it being awkward."

In the same profile, Taylor was also asked to comment on Charli, to which she said, "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."

Maybe work it out on the remix???

You can read the full interview here.