Charli XCX has criticised fans who shouted “Taylor is dead” at a recent show in São Paulo, saying she “will not tolerate it”.
READ MORE: Charli XCX – ‘Brat’ review: pop pioneer fully embraces the dancefloor
The singer played a ‘PARTYGIRL’ DJ set in the Brazilian city on Saturday (June 22), where some fans are reported to have yelled out the phrase, apparently in reference to Taylor Swift.
Charli responded after the show with an Instagram story, in which she called out the fans directly.
“Can the people who do this please stop,” she wrote (via Variety). “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. I will not tolerate it.”
Earlier this month, Charli’s acclaimed new album ‘Brat’ was held off the top spot in the UK Albums Chart by Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. This was partly attributed to a boost in sales of the latter thanks to the release of a new UK-exclusive digital format that included previously unreleased live recordings, as well as the boost of Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour arriving in the UK.
Some fans have also suggested that one song on ‘Brat’ – ‘Sympathy is a knife’ – may reference Swift.
“Don’t know if I’m spiralling / One voice tells me that they laugh / George says I’m just paranoid,” Charli sings in the song. “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back / I hope they break up real quick”.
Charli is engaged to George Daniel, the drummer in The 1975, while Swift was in a brief relationship with that band’s frontman Matty Healy in 2023.
In 2019, Charli also spoke to Pitchfork about the experience of opening for Swift on her ‘Reputation’ stadium tour, saying that while she was “really grateful” for the opportunity, “it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving at five-year-olds”. She later clarified that “there is absolutely no shade and only love” between the two artists.
Another track on ‘Brat’ – ‘Girl, so confusing’ – has just received a new version that features additional vocals from Lorde, and it has left many fans emotional, as well as fellow artists such as Marina and Caroline Polachek.
That came after Lorde had raved about ‘Brat’ on her social media, saying in an Instagram story, “There is NO ONE like this bitch”.
Charli has also opened up about the backstories of some other tracks off ‘Brat’. ‘Talk Talk’, she shared, was inspired by nearly following now-fiancée Daniel to the bathrooms at the NME Awards.
“We were not together, but we were definitely very into each other,” she explained. “We were at the NME Awards, we were both sat on different tables, and we were like texting each other, but we weren’t hanging out. But we were both looking over at each other – it was very like, one of us would look and the other one would look away, and then just vice versa.
“You know when you just feel like someone is watching you, you can feel a hole burning in the back of your head or something like that,” she continued. “It was very much that moment.”
In a four-star review of ‘Brat’, NME wrote: “On the self-described “club record”, XCX offers pure party girl hedonism. Percolating beats, brash synths, left-field production and vocal lines that flit between bratty quips or honest one-liners.”
“With ‘Brat’, XCX demonstrates that going her own way will always sound pretty good,” it added.
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