Taylor Swift says diss track is 'love letter to someone who hates me'

Since the release of Taylor Swift's new album on Friday, fans have been falling over themselves to try to work out who she is referring to in one track in particular.

The song, Actually Romantic, is about an unnamed fellow popstar - and social media has blown up with speculation that it's a Charli XCX diss track.

In a cinema screening to accompany the new album, Swift has now revealed that the track is "a love letter to someone who hates you".

The pop star, 35, didn't say who she was singing about, but she sarcastically thanked them for paying her attention, saying: "It's flattering."

Actually Romantic is the seventh track on Swift's much anticipated new album, The Life of A Showgirl.

It refers to another singer, who calls Swift a "boring Barbie" and writes songs about how much they hate her.

Fans on social media are convinced this is a response to Charli XCX's song, Sympathy is a Knife, from her Brat album, which the 33-year-old allegedly wrote about Swift.

Charli XCX scored her second UK number 1 album with Brat, which was released in June 2024

In that song, Charli writes about feeling insecure about a woman who shows up backstage at her boyfriend's gig.

"Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiralling. One voice tells me that they laugh, George says, "I'm just paranoid", she sings.

She adds: "Fingers crossed behind my back. I hope they break up real quick".

Charli's then boyfriend, now husband, George Daniel, is the drummer in the band The 1975. Swift briefly dated the band's frontman Matty Healy.

In her new track, Swift sings it's "actually romantic" how much time another popstar devotes to her.

"It sounded nasty but it feels like you're flirting with me," she sings. "All the effort you've put in, it's actually romantic."

Neither star has confirmed if their songs are about each other.

And last year, Swift showered Charli with compliments in an interview with New York Magazine. "I've been blown away by Charli's melodic sensibilities since I first heard 'Stay Away' in 2011," she said.

But the new track has fans wondering whether the alleged beef is back on.

Charli XCX, left, and Taylor Swift pictured posing backstage at an event in 2014

On Friday, a launch event film for The Life of a Showgirl dropped in cinemas. Along with a music video, it contains a mixture of song explainers and behind-the-scenes footage.

In a short intro to Actually Romantic, Swift shed new light on its meaning, saying it's about realising unexpectedly that you're part of someone else's story.

"There can be this moment where it's unveiled to you, through things that they do that are very overt," she said.

"And, as I've gotten older, I've just started to be like, 'Oh my God, you did so much with this. It's flattering,'" she said.

"That is, wow, that is very, very sweet of you to think about me this much, even if it's negative. In my industry, attention is affection, and you've given me a whole lot of it."

Best friends Anya, left, and Scarlett, right, attended a club night on Friday dedicated to Taylor Swift songs

At a "Swiftogeddon" club night in Clapham, south London, on Friday night, partygoers admitted they'd spent the day over-analysing everything.

"She never gives it away, but I think that song is definitely about Charli XCX," said super fan and DJ Dave Fawbert, who runs the night dedicated entirely to Taylor Swift's music.

Anya, 24, from Brighton, who was attending the party with her friend Scarlett, 21, said she doesn't have to do a lot of the decoding "because the internet does it for me".

She also felt Actually Romantic was about Charli, adding she could relate to the lyrics. "It's universal, we've all had that feeling," she told BBC News.

But Tanya, who's 27, and is a huge Charli XCX fan, said she didn't think it was "very fair or feminist" of Swift to appear to take shots at her.

"I don't think she should've done it. But, hey, freedom of expression, I guess."

Fans have long tried to decode Swift's lyrics, and work out who she is settling scores with. This new album is no exception.

Away from the songs clearly about her fiancé, Travis Kelce, other new tracks that have been subject to internet speculation include Father Figure (thought to be about music executive Scott Borchetta).

Some have also speculated that Cancelled! is about the status of her friendship with Blake Lively, and that Opalite is about Kelce's ex, Kayla Nicole.

Swift, who is known for penning a string of break-up tracks, has previously said she will never confirm who her songs are about.