Upon its release, various critics and listeners speculated that the track was written as a diss track targeting the British singer Charli XCX and her song "Sympathy Is a Knife" (2024), which is allegedly about Swift. It garnered comparisons to the composition of the Pixies's "Where Is My Mind?" (1988). Music critics generally criticized the song's narrative as unmerited and the sound ineffective, although a few complimented it as a standout from the album for its production choices.
Background
Upon the release of Charli XCX's sixth studio album Brat (2024), fans speculated that "Sympathy Is a Knife" was directed at Swift and Matty Healy of The 1975.[1][2] Charli XCX and Swift had previously collaborated, with Charli XCX joining the 1989 World Tour in 2015 and serving as an opening act for the 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour.[2] The song's lyrics referencing Charli XCX's then-boyfriend and now-husband George Daniel, also of the 1975, including "Don't wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend's show", were widely interpreted as alluding to Swift's relationship with Healy.[3]
Prior to the release of "Sympathy Is a Knife", some tension existed between Charli XCX and Swift. In a 2019 Pitchfork interview, Charli XCX remarked that touring with Swift "kind of felt like I was getting up onstage and waving to five-year-olds", which drew criticism from Swift's fans.[4] Charli XCX later denied that any tracks on Brat were intended as diss tracks[5] and said "Sympathy Is a Knife" was not about Swift.[3] The week after Brat's release, Swift put out a digital reissue of her album The Tortured Poets Department (2024) exclusively in the United Kingdom, which some observers suggested was a strategic move to prevent Brat from reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart.[5] During a DJ set Charli XCX was playing at in São Paulo during June 2024, the audience chanted "A Taylor morreu!" (Portuguese for 'Taylor is dead!').[6] She later criticized the people who chanted the phrase on her Instagram story, asking her fans to stop and saying she "will not tolerate it".[7]
Furthermore, in an August 2024 interview with Vulture, Charli XCX expressed that "people are gonna think what they want to think" and stated "Sympathy Is a Knife" is about her anxiety, insecurities, and wanting to avoid situations that make her feel self-doubt. In the same interview, Swift is said to have lauded Charli XCX's musical sensibilities, called her writing "surreal and inventive, always", and said she enjoys seeing the results of Charli XCX's hard work. She further praised Charli XCX's ability to "[take] a song to places you wouldn't expect it to go" and how "she's been doing it consistently for over a decade".[8]
Lyrically, "Actually Romantic" addresses an individual whose adversarial fixation on Swift is portrayed as a perverse declaration of love.[17] Multiple critics interpreted the song as a diss track targeting Charli XCX,[16][18][19] as the title is speculated to allude Charli XCX's "Everything Is Romantic" (2024).[16] The lyric mentioning a song whose author feels "sick [seeing Swift's face]" is viewed as a direct reference to "Sympathy Is a Knife".[20] Another line ("High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me") is believed to reference Healy.[13]
Critical reception
Critics interpreted "Actually Romantic" as a diss track from Swift (left) targeting Charli XCX (right).[21]
Music critics generally criticized the track's narrative as misguided and its production as derivative. Walden Green from Pitchfork regarded the track as "mean" and one of the worst songs on The Life of a Showgirl, criticizing its production and considering it a "Kidz Bop version" of the Pixie's "Where Is My Mind?".[11] Jaeden Pinder from the same publication wrote that "Actually Romantic" is reminiscent of Swift's earliest revenge songs, in which she was "too caught up in anger to see straight", and that it stood in contrast to her approach of revising lyrics on Speak Now (Taylor's Version) to avoid anti-feminist interpretations.[18]Slate's Sam Adams criticized the song as "petty and small-minded" and a form of "punching down".[13] Chris Richards of The Washington Post thought the narrative was expressed in a careless manner,[21] and Vulture's Craig Jenkins similarly deemed the song ineffective and a "quirky clapback".[22] Laura Snapes of The Guardian stated "Actually Romantic" lacked emotional depth, criticizing its lyricism and "queen-bee spite".[15]News.com.au's Joshua Haigh considered the track "at best misguided and at worst, straight-up embarrassing", deeming the lyricism insensitive.[23]
Some critics also thought Swift's criticism of Charli XCX was unmerited. Snapes wrote that Charli XCX's reference towards Swift on "Sympathy Is a Knife" had come from a place of her own "perceived inferiority and her awe at Swift", adding that "it's not about active disdain for Swift, but the gut-punch of poor self-comparison."[15] Similarly, Haigh opined, "The thing is, Charli's track was never meant to be an insult... It pains me that Taylor, someone who's written such thought-provoking and nuanced songs like 'Peace' from Folklore and the surprisingly earnest lead single 'Anti-Hero' from Midnights, opted to go straight for the jugular rather than taking a moment to understand the pain behind Charli's insecurity and jealousy."[23]
A few critics were more complimentary. Wesley Morris of The New York Times enjoyed the "cascading verses", "which are as close as [Swift] may get to pre-brawl earring removal".[9] Also from The New York Times, Lindsay Zoladz wrote that the song "works" because Swift delivers the theme of interpersonal conflict with "the most inspired vocal performance on the album", which turns it into an erotic song that "borders on the exotic".[9] In The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick selected "Actually Romantic" as one of the album's "interesting outliers" for its evocative content,[24] while Poppie Platt considered it a standout because of its "echoes of vengeful bangers like 'Bad Blood' and 'Blank Space'".[25]DIY's Ben Tipple contended that the track contains "arguably the best melody" of the album.[26]
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