Brat singer Charli XCX has said she “will not tolerate” fans chanting “Taylor Swift is dead” at her shows.
The popstar urged concertgoers to stop the jeering while at her gigs. “Can the people who do this please stop,” she wrote on her Instagram story on Monday. “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.”
Global megastar Swift has picked up some criticism in recent weeks from fans who say she is blocking other albums, such as Charli XCX’s Brat or Billie Eilish‘s Hit Me Hard and Soft, from reaching the number one spot on the top music charts by releasing new versions of The Tortured Poets Department.
Suggestions were made online that Charli XCX’s song “Sympathy Is a Knife” may include a reference to Swift. The English singer is engaged to The 1975 drummer George Daniel, and Swift reportedly dated the band’s frontman Matty Healy last year.
The lyric in Charli XCX’s song describes a woman who “taps into [her] insecurities”. “Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling… One voice tells me that they laugh. George says I’m just paranoid… Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show. Fingers crossed behind my back. I hope they break up quick.”
In 2018, Charli XCX was one of the support acts for Swift’s Reputation Tour, alongside Camila Cabello. Charli XCX told Pitchfork in 2019: “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.”
On Sunday night, Swift brought her boyfriend Travis Kelce onstage at the Eras Tour while performing at London’s Wembley Stadium, to the surprise of fans all over the world. Kelce, the Kansas City chiefs quarterback, dressed in a tuxedo for the performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” He picked up Swift and carried her for her outfit change bit. He also powdered her face, busted a move, and gave a big smile when exiting the stage.
