Wait, who is the new Charli XCX diss track about? Explaining the rumoured beef with Lorde

Charli XCX today releases BRAT, her long awaited new album that has debuted to critical acclaim and currently sits as the most well reviewed album of 2024 on Meteoritic with a stunning 92 score. As a diehard, card carrying Angel since True Romance I have only prayed for days like this – a new magnum opus with the power to topple Pop 2. But there is one track on BRAT that has everyone talking. On an album that sees Charli XCX be extremely vulnerable and confessional lyrically, the song Girl So Confusing is about another pop star in the industry, and whilst Charli XCX is yet to directly name the singer the internet is convinced the BRAT track is aimed at Lorde, and there’s loads of evidence as to why. Let’s get into it and get it all explained.

What is actually said in Girl So Confusing?

The lyrics of this song talk about Charli XCX and the insecurities she faces in the industry, particularly in comparison to another female artist who she emerged at the same time as and often finds herself comparing herself to.

Yeah, I don’t know if you like me
Sometimes I think you might hate me
Sometimes I think I might hate you
Maybe you just wanna be me
You always say, “Let’s go out”
So we go eat at a restaurant
Sometimes it feels a bit awkward
‘Cause we don’t have much in common

People say we’re alike
They say we’ve got the same hair
We talk about making music
But I don’t know if it’s honest
Can’t tell if you wanna see me
Falling over and failing
And you can’t tell what you’re feeling
I think I know how you feel

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The song does go on to detail a sort of mutual respect between the two, and how they have a friendship despite their differences.

What’s Charli said about it?

pic.twitter.com/Oloi9KTLsu

— v (@ViralThingz) June 5, 2024

Speaking on the Las Culturistas podcast, Charli XCX was asked about who Girl So Confusing on BRAT was about and whilst Lorde wasn’t mentioned by name, she kind of validated the rumours in the way she worded her response. “This is the first time I’ve spoken about this song. You guys are the first people to ask me. I haven’t quite decided whether I’m revealing. When I wrote it, I was like ‘I’m revealing’ but now the time is here… My thing is, people are gonna guess. I feel like you both have an accurate guess. I’m not going to ask you to say it out loud because you’ll tell from my face. But like, it’s probably that person.”

Charli XCX then continued explaining the song, saying “So the thing is, I think we live in a world of pop music right now where women are like, ‘I support other women, I love women, I’m a feminist’ – and that’s great.” The host then says “But there’s an artifice to it?”

Charli replies: “Absolutely. I don’t think you become a bad feminist if maybe you don’t see eye to eye with every single woman. That’s just not the nature of human beings. There is a competitiveness between us, there is envy, there is camaraderie – all of these different dynamics. I feel like working in entertainment there is this kind of dance that we all do with each other, whether you’re in music – there is this dance. Everybody’s watching each other. Everyone’s posing for pictures with each other, but at the same time you want what they have. This happens, but nobody is really willing to discuss it.”

“I just find there is this strange unspoken thing that often happens with women because there’s such a narrative of pitting women against each other within music. Sometimes that’s not totally fabricated. What’s the phrase, no smoke without fire?”

But why Lorde?

Lorde and Charli XCX drama has been brewing years before Brat, although the drama has never seemed mean spirited. The two emerged at the same time in 2013, and where Charli’s first material never became hugely commercially successful beyond I Love It with Icona Pop and Fancy with Iggy in 2014, Lorde saw insane success with Royals and her debut album Pure Heroine.

The two were a similar age and had similar hair – Charli famously went viral for being mistaken for Lorde in an interview where she played along with it.

Has Lorde responded?

Lorde shares Instagram story supporting Charli XCX’s new album ‘brat’:

“I speak for all of us when I say it’s an honour to be moved, changed and gagged by her work, there is NO ONE like this b*tch” pic.twitter.com/VGYGQWbM0y

— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 6, 2024

Yeah, in an unexpected way. Lorde posted about Brat on her Instagram story yesterday, praising Charli XCX and celebrating the record.

Lorde said “The only album I’ve ever presaved is out today. Charli just cooked this one different. So much grit, grace and skin in the game. I speak for all of us when I say it’s an honour to be moved, changed and gagged by her work. There is no one like her. Brava, and welcome Brat.

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