“Actually Romantic” is the seventh track on Taylor Swift’s 2025 album ‘The Life of a Showgirl.’ The song talks about people who throw digs at Taylor and Taylor interpreting it as veiled love.
Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ on October 3, 2025. She calls this album a culmination of a lifetime of experiences and it’s “beautiful,” “rapturous” and “frightening.” The album was produced by Max Martin, Shellback, and Taylor Swift herself.
In an Amazon track-by-track review, Taylor talked about the meaning behind this song; “Actually Romantic” is a song about realizing that someone else has kind of had a one-sided adversarial relationship with you that you didn’t know about. And all of a sudden they start like, doing too much, and they start letting you know that actually you’ve been living in their head rent-free and you had no idea and it’s presenting itself as them sort of resenting you or having a problem with you, but, um, taking that and you just accepting it as love and you accepting it as attention and affection and how flattering that somebody has made you such a big part of their reality when you didn’t even think about this. It’s actually pretty romantic if you really, really think about it.”
Fans have interpreted this song as a response to popstar Charli XCX who has been taking subtle shots at Taylor Swift for a while. During The Eras Tour, Taylor has been often compared with ‘Barbie’ as a figure of perfect beauty and cadence. Following Taylor’s brief relationship with Matty Healy in 2023, Matty shared a to-do list that included “break up with Margot Robbie”, referencing the lead actress of Barbie (2023) as a joke at Taylor’s expense. Charli XCX also has a song titled “Everything is Romantic.” Taylor’s reference to cocaine can also be a direct jab at Charli XCX who leaned heavily into drugs theme on her latest album ‘Brat.’
Listen to “Actually Romantic” by Taylor Swift
Download ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Album on Apple Music
Taylor Swift “Actually Romantic” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
In the first verse of the song, we hear Taylor Swift talking about how one person has been running their mouth behind her back.
I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave
Taylor has been compared to a ‘Barbie’ figure during her Eras Tour for her appearance and the way she carries herself. However some people tend to think that Taylor is as vanilla or predictable or ‘boring’ as they come. On the other side, Charli XCX seems to have a more vibrant and explosive personality as evident by her latest album ‘brat.’ Charli XCX married Matty Healy’s fellow band member George Daniel.
Taylor insinuates that when Charli XCX is coked out of her mind, she would be influencing Taylor’s ex Matty Healy to call her a boring Barbie. After Taylor and Matty’s breakup in 2023, Matty shared a to-do list which included ‘breakup with Margot Robbie who played the role of Barbie in the 2023 movie of the same name.
In Charli XCX’s 2024 song “Sympathy is a knife,” she mentions a girl who taps her insecurities. Fans have associated this song with Taylor Swift.
In the chorus of the song, Swift tries to put a positive spin on this obsession. She choses to believe that all the hours this other person spent thinking about her to write a song is actually flattering. Taylor says that the amount of thinking, contemplating, and scheming this person has done is unparalleled even amongst her lovers.
Like a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse
That’s how much it hurts
In the second verse of the song, Taylor compares her haters to a tiny Chihuahua dog barking at her from a tiny purse–very cute, very adorable, but no actual threat. She imagines this person always talks about her, scheming how to throw shades at her, so much so that their partners are probably getting frustrated with them.
Talk about living in their head rent free.
In the bridge of the song, we might actually be hearing Taylor’s most explicit lyrics yet. She says that the amount of affection and care this person is showing her is actually making her libido go on overdrive. Taylor Swift uses much more direct words to describe these feelings.
All-in-all “Actually Romantic” tries to flip Taylor’s frustration with this person into something beautiful as she does not want all this drama in her life. “I swear I don’t love the drama… it loves me,” said Taylor sometime back.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Read the complete lyrics to the song on Genius.