Sympathy is a knife by Charli xcx Song Info
“Sympathy is a knife“ shows Charli’s self-doubts, and that, despite the album’s exterior theme of unashamed courage, Charli herself still suffers from the pressure of public opinion. Charli suggests that feigned sympathy from others cuts her like a knife.Though the pretense is that the ‘sympathy’ is meant to ‘save’ her ego, it actually makes it hard for her to understand whether someone is being real with her, or if they are behaving artificially in order to save their image. As a result she is ‘spiraling.’ The artificial individual in question here is a highly debated topic within the zeitgeist of Charli XCX forums. Many believe this is a commentary on Taylor Swift, a point influenced by Taylor’s romantic involvement with The 1975’s lead singer Matty Healy, a band in which Charli’s fiancé, George Daniel, plays (hence the lyric: ”Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend's show”). The song is also interpreted as Charli’s recognition of not being able to be as popular as Taylor is, even if she tried: in June, Taylor released a special-edition variant of The Tortured Poets Department available only in the UK. Fans speculate that this was meant to block Charli’s album from debuting at #1. BRAT debuted on the all-genre charts at #2.
