Charli XCX won't confirm if a certain Brat song is about Taylor Swift: 'That song is about me and my feelings'

Charli XCX won’t be adding any fuel to the Taylor Swift feud fire.

Rumors of a rift between the pop artists were recently reignited by the release of Charli’s splashy summer album, Brat, but neither singer is giving any credence to the internet’s theories. During a recent profile for New York magazine, Charli shrugged off the notion that her track "Sympathy Is a Knife” has anything to do with the "Karma" singer.

“People are gonna think what they want to think,” she said, when asked if there is a connection. "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.”

As for Swift, she had only positive words to share about the "Guess" singer.

“I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘Stay Away’ in 2011,” she told the outlet. “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.”

“Sympathy Is a Knife” sees Charli spiraling over self-doubt while comparing herself to another woman. “I couldn’t even be her if I tried,” she sings at one point, then in the second verse says, “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back / I hope they break up quick.”

Charli is engaged to The 1975 drummer George Daniel so given Swift’s brief 2023 relationship with the band’s lead singer, Matty Healy, internet sleuths theorize that she was the backstage beau in question. However the feud rumors date back much farther than Brat.

Back in 2018, Charli joined Swift on the road for her Reputation stadium tour, which oft saw her return to the stage to frolic around with other special guests during “Shake It Off.” A year later, she would endure the wrath of Swifties for telling Pitchfork, “As an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to 5-year-olds.” Charli later clarified her comment on X (formerly Twitter), writing, "It was brilliant opening for Taylor, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.”

Despite the artists speaking highly of one another, fans have kept the feud alive on social media and even at concerts. Earlier this year, Charli took note of a crowd chanting “Taylor is dead” at a June performance to indicate the rise of Brat threatening Swift's chart-topping album, The Tortured Poet’s Department.

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The Grammy-nominee was less than thrilled, and immediately asked fans to shut down the “toxic behavior.” In a now-expired Instagram Story, she wrote, “Can the people who do this please stop. online or at my shows. it is the opposite of what i want and it disturbs me that anyone would think there is room for this in this community.”

While Charli and Swift are denying the feud allegations, there's always the possibility of them handling things Lorde style, and working it out on the remix.