A roundup of all the shady Charli XCX lyrics on Brat, and who they’re rumoured to be about

Charli XCX has got so much acclaim for her biggest ever album Brat not just because the rave inspired music goes so hard, but because the lyrics are so confessional and vulnerable. Charli XCX is not afraid to paint herself in a bad light on Brat, and by doing so she puts herself out openly in a way that not many of her peers can do. With Charli XCX being so blunt and open on Brat – she said she wanted the lyrics to feel like text messages – comes a lot of shade that people have interpreted to be about different famous people. Some we now know are confirmed, and others are rumoured. Here’s a rundown of all the shady lyrics on Brat by Charli XCX, and who they’re rumoured to actually be about.

Sympathy is a Knife

On Sympathy is a Knife, Charli XCX has lyrics in the second verse that people quickly interpreted to be about Taylor Swift. The lyrics say “Don’t want to see you backstage at my boyfriend’s show, fingers crossed behind my back I hope they breakup quick.” Taylor Swift was briefly dating Matty Healy, the frontman of the 1975. Charli XCX is currently engaged to George Daniel – the band’s drummer.

Von Dutch

Von Dutch is a balls to the wall arrogant kiss off anthem, and is widely rumoured to be about FKA twigs. It’s a bit unclear what the beef is between the two, but the lyrics on Von Dutch are savage. “It’s okay to just admit that you’re jealous of me”, “You’re obsessing”, “I get money, you get mad” to name but a few.

YES, THIS IS A SUBTWEET – don’t ever be fake to me ever again at a party / in the street / wherever i see you – i know what u say.

— Charli (@charli_xcx) February 21, 2023

There was a shady subtweet Charli XCX did that is rumoured to be about twigs also.

Girl, so confusing

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The biggest and most talked about of all the shady lyrics on Brat is Girl, So Confusing – a song about Charli XCX’s insecurities about another artist in the music industry who she is unsure on whether even likes her. It’s a paranoid anthem that was widely rumoured to be about Lorde, with lyrics like “they say we’ve got the same hair” referencing the fact the two of them used to get mixed up for one another in interviews during their early career.

This was obviously all confirmed to be true when the two “worked it out on the remix” and released a version together where Lorde told her side of the story. So iconic.

Guess with Billie Eilish

The latest of the shady lyrics from Brat comes from the new remix of Guess, where Charli XCX has linked up with Billie Eilish. The two of them both got chart blocked from the top spot by Taylor Swift, who consistently released new limited variants to hold her grip on the top spot of the chart or her Tortured Poets Department record.

One of the lyrics on the new remix is “You wanna guess what me and Billie have been texting about?”, and people think this is an implication that the two of them have discussed the Taylor chart blocking drama. Especially because Billie has been making other shady comments towards Taylor recently. Drama

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