Though “I hope they break up quick” is not a flattering lyric, the rest of the song is fairly innocuous—a peek behind the curtain at Charli’s anxiety-riddled mind. Later, she explains that the 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.”
The Matty Healy of it all.
Days after the release of brat on June 7, the model Gabriette—who also happens to be a close friend and former bandmate of Charli—shared a photo of what looked to be an engagement ring from the 1975 frontman Matty Healy. “MARRYING THE 1975 IS VERY BRAT” Gabriette wrote in green text over a photo of her black diamond ring.
Healy’s mother later confirmed the engagement during an appearance on the British talk show Loose Women.
Healy, of course, is largely believed to be the titular villain of Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was released in April of 2024. Swift and Healy’s short-lived affair was the hottest story of spring/summer 2023, spun as a rebound relationship following Swift’s breakup with the British actor Joe Alwyn. It is believed that Gabriette and Healy began dating shortly after his breakup from Swift.
Given Charli’s “I hope they break up” lyric and the fact that Healy moved on with one of her dear friends, Swifties were left with a sour taste in their mouths following the engagement announcement. However, there’s no evidence of any foul play on Charli’s, Healy’s, or Gabriette’s parts.
Charli shuts down anti-Taylor chants at her shows: “I will not tolerate it.”
On June 23, Charli condemned a video of some of her Brazilian fans chanting “Death to Taylor” in Portuguese at one of her shows.
“Can the people who do this please stop,” she wrote in an Instagram Story. “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.”
Taylor Swift praises Charli XCX in a New York Magazine profile of the brat pop star.
On August 26, New York Magazine published a Charli XCX profile. In it, the musician declines to answer any questions about her relationship with Swift, especially in light of the fan speculation regarding “Sympathy is a knife.”
However, Swift sends a message which unmistakably puts the rumors to bed.
“I’ve been blown away by Charli’s melodic sensibilities since I first heard ‘Stay Away’ in 2011,” she told the publication. “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.”
Charli hints at a remix of “Sympathy is a knife.”
In the same New York Magazine profile, Charli revealed that she may be releasing a remix to the brat track which has stoked so much of the Charli vs. Taylor fire. “I wrote this three or four weeks ago, about this idea of, like, you have to fall–if you’re deemed to be even in the slightest way on top, you have to fall,” she said. “I’m not a fucking idiot. I know how shit works.”
