TAYLOR SWIFT has sent her fans into overdrive with a diss track believed to be aimed at Charli XCX.
She released her 12th album The Life Of A Showgirl on Friday, which includes the song Actually Romantic.
And in The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl, in UK cinemas, Taylor describes the track as a "love letter to someone who hates you".
She sat in a director's chair to explain the meaning of the track during the screening.
Taylor said: "Sometimes you don't know that you're a part of someone else's story, but you are, and then kind of there can be this moment where it's unveiled to you.
"There's things they do that are very overt. As I've gotten older, I've just started to be like, 'Oh, my God, thanks so much. You did so much with this'. 'It's flattering . . . I don't hate you and I don't think about this, but, like, thank you for all the effort.
"That is very, very sweet of you to think about it this much. Even if it's negative, in my industry, attention is affection, and you are giving me a whole lot of it'.
In the track, Taylor sings: "I heard you call me 'Boring Barbie' when the coke's got you brave.
"High-fived my ex and then you said you're glad he ghosted me."
Taylor had a whirlwind romance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy in 2023.
Meanwhile, Charli's husband George Daniel is the band's drummer.
Charli released the song Sympathy Is A Knife last year in which she sings about being insecure around "one girl" — believed to be Taylor.
However, Charli has denied it was about Taylor, adding: "The song is about me and my feelings and my anxiety."
The first sign of cracks in their friendship came after Charli supported Taylor on her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour.
Speaking to Pitchfork, Charli said: "I'm really grateful that [Taylor] asked me on that tour. But as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to five-year-olds."
Following the comments, Charli said on X: "There is absolutely no shade and only love here."
It sounds like Taylor's track has actually just reopened some old wounds.
Swift bite
FANS may spot the Fate Of Ophelia vid has a loaf of bread in it – which was baked by Tay.
The singer has spoken about her love of baking sourdough and gave Radio 1 host Greg James a lemon and blueberry loaf.
I wonder how much she could charge per slice?
ALL CALM IN CANCEL TURMOIL
TAYLOR is the first port of call when pals get cancelled online.
She was targeted by a "TaylorSwiftIsOver" campaign in 2016 following her public fallout with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Of her track Cancelled!, she said: "Anytime people get backlash, I tend to get to be the person they reach out to.
"It's just sort of, 'Somebody told me that you got in trouble for making that joke. It's gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. You want to go to lunch?'."
Taylor's long-time pal Blake Lively has been embroiled in a legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.
She was rumoured to have cut ties with the actress but fans believe the track is an olive branch given the lyric: "Good thing I like my friends cancelled. I like 'em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal."
She added: "I kind of wanted to write a song about how you could become wiser for it and how you could become sharper.
"I definitely judge people a lot less now that I've been under the microscope for so long.
"I just judge people based on who I know them to be – their actions, not some sort of general consensus where people are like, 'Step away, they're radioactive'. I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna do that if somebody proves they're not a good person."
Swift bite
TAYLOR said it was "important" to keep George Michael's family involved in the song Father Figure.
The late WHAM! singer is credited as a songwriter on her track that features a reimagining of his 1987 hit of the same name.
She said: "We reached out to his close family friend, and his family, and made sure everything was OK before we did anything, to keep them in the mix and abreast of everything that was going on.
"I know how sacred songwriting is and it's really important to honour that."
SABRINA A MUST FOR TITLE TUNE
THEY became a pop powerhouse during the sold-out Eras Tour.
And now Taylor has hailed Sabrina Carpenter as the ultimate showgirl after revealing she was desperate to feature her on the new album.
She asked the Manchild hitmaker to be on her title track, The Life Of A Showgirl.
Sabrina supported Taylor on her 2023-24 Eras Tour, with the pair also performing an acoustic set together in Sydney.
Of the track, Taylor said: "I was like, 'I want Sabrina to sing on this. So bad'. She's a friend of mine, she's one of my favourite artists. She's been the opener for the Eras Tour but is also really well equipped for this career.
"She is so good at moving through backlash or criticism."
Taylor added: "I was like, 'I want to see if she would be up for this, because I really feel like she's got the same mentality as this song sings about'. She was like, 'I thought you'd never ask'.
"I just had the most wonderful, immediate response to it and then when she was on tour in Sweden, she took her days off and went and recorded it. That is a showgirl for you."
Swift bite
The Life Of A Showgirl has become the most-streamed album of all time in its first 24 hours on Amazon Music.
It breaks her own record set by The Tortured Poets Department from 2024.
The streamer has launched a track-by-track experience for the album, featuring commentary from Taylor about each song.
It's been heaven for the Swifties.
FANS RUSH TO RELEASE
SWIFTIES paid homage to their idol as they headed to cinemas for The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl.
I joined some of them at my local Odeon in Putney, South West London, on Friday night – and was greeted by fans in homemade outfits celebrating the new Showgirl era.
The 90-minute screening – in cinemas for a three-day run that ends today – included a premiere of The Fate Of Ophelia video.
It saw Taylor through the ages – from a 19th-century portrait to a modern-day pop star.
She also took us through the story behind each of the album's 12 tracks and making the video.
The audience clapped along to the songs and got up to dance to her earworms Opalite and title track The Life Of A Showgirl.
Only Taylor Swift could light up a cold and wet October night like that!
TAYLOR wishes she'd invested in beads after the success of the friendship bracelets during her Eras tour.
She said on The Graham Norton Show on Friday: "This is a thing that fans come up with on their own, we didn't market this – or else I'd have invested in beads."
SHEEN WILL SHINE AGAIN IN SITCOM
EX-HELLRAISER Charlie Sheen is about to be thrown a Hollywood lifeline that could rescue his career.
The Two And A Half Men actor is in talks with streaming bosses over a starring role in new TV sitcom Ramble On, in which he plays a fictitious version of his rabble-rousing self.
The project failed to find a buyer last year.
But since he hit the headlines again with the brilliant two-part Netflix documentary – called aka Charlie Sheen – and the release of bestselling memoir The Book Of Sheen, show chiefs are keen to sign him up.
A source said: "It's shaping up to be a bidding war because everyone is aware Charlie is suddenly hot again.
"This time, hiring him won't be anything like as much of a gamble as he's been clean and sober for seven years."
The Netflix show and book tell how Sheen – once the world's highest-paid TV star on £1.3million per episode of Two And A Half Men – blew his entire £111million fortune in an orgy of sex, drugs and booze.
Ramble On, which also features Kevin Dillon and John C. McGinley, follows the fortunes of two Hollywood bigwigs who help fallen stars relaunch their flagging careers.
Show creator Doug Ellin said: "It's very much about second acts and redemption."
GOOD luck to Paloma Faith, who viewers will see enter the foreboding Highlands castle for Celebrity Traitors on Wednesday.
Emily met the singer this week as 19 famous faces are about to take on the challenge for charity, hosted by Claudia Winkleman.
A WORTHY HEADLINER
CHART-TOPPING Olivia Dean says she would love to headline Glastonbury.
The singer, who had her first No1 single this week with Man I Need, has previously played Worthy Farm but hopes to top the bill.
She told Apple Music 1: "The first day I met my manager, we went for a coffee when I was 17. She said, 'What do you want?' And I said, 'I want to play Jools Holland. I want to make an album and I want to play at Glastonbury.
"I'd like to headline Glastonbury one day."
LIV REALITY CHEQUES
OLIVIA ATTWOOD's earnings soared by more than £300,000 thanks to reality shows Bad Boyfriends and The Price Of Perfection.
Accounts for her firm Wild Child Entertainment Ltd showed capital and reserves of £381,364 for the year ending 2024.
It comes after Olivia admitted having a separate bank account to footballer husband Bradley Dack.
She said: "It's really im- portant to keep your own finances and your own bank account."
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