""No man has ever loved me like you do," Taylor Swift teases to an unnamed female foe on the last line of the chorus to "Actually Romantic", a lyric that has will no doubt has Gaylor truthers up in a twist and sapphic shippers across fandom already penning love-hate NSFW song-fics. As queer as the track can be interpreted - Death of the Author and all that - the undeniable truth is that it cannot escape its outdated misogyny repackaged for the boss girl era."
"The song, the 7th track on Swift's 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, which dropped on Friday (3 October), is allegedly a Charli XCX diss track and a response to the Brat hitmaker's song "Sympathy is a knife", in which Charli XCX spoke of feeling deeply inadequate compared to an unnamed female that she was thrust into close quarters with."
""I heard you call me 'Boring Barbie' when the coke's got you brave," Swift's "Actually Romantic" opens, with her appearing to take a swipe at Charli XCX's 2000s rave culture inspired album - which courted controversy for glamourising drugs - before continuing: "High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me/ Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.""
Taylor Swift's 'Actually Romantic' uses direct lyrical attacks on an unnamed female that invite queer readings while simultaneously repeating misogynistic framing. The song appears to respond to Charli XCX's "Sympathy is a knife" and satirizes rave-era drug controversies and backstage rivalry. Specific references in the lyrics include an allegation of being called "Boring Barbie," a claim that an ex was high-fived and ghosted, and a chorus framing obsession as 'actually romantic.' The track evokes fan reactions including Gaylor truthers and sapphic shippers and centers personal relationship dynamics and public feuds.
Read at PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news
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