Music week in brief – October 3

Taylor Swift has released her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, reuniting with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Shellback. The album features just one collaboration - the title track with Sabrina Carpenter.

One of the most intriguing moments on the album is the seventh track, “Actually Romantic,” rumored to be Taylor Swift’s response to Charli XCX. In it, Taylor seems to address Charli directly:

“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

Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face.”

The drug reference ties to Charli’s Brat era party-culture aesthetic, while the “song” line is widely read as a pointed nod back to Sympathy Is a Knife. That track stirred speculation last year with lyrics about jealousy toward an unnamed girl, widely believed to be Taylor, especially given the line “don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show”, written when Swift was dating Matty Healy of The 1975 and Charli was with bandmate George Daniel.

Fans often interpret Sympathy Is a Knife as Charli’s reflection on her place next to Taylor, a mix of admiration, insecurity, and the painful contrast in their status. With biting irony, Taylor flips the narrative in “Actually Romantic,” dismissing the hostility as nothing more than “actually romantic.”

Oasis have released a special deluxe edition of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. Alongside the remastered original album, the reissue includes an extra disc featuring five unplugged versions of classic tracks, newly produced and mixed by Noel Gallagher and Callum Marinho from the original masters.

James Morrison has returned with Fight Another Day, his first album of entirely new material in six years.

Amid the buzz around Taylor Swift’s new album, Rolling Stone has compiled its list of The 50 Best Max Martin Songs:

1. Britney Spears — … Baby One More Time

2. Backstreet Boys — I Want It That Way

3. Taylor Swift — New Romantics

4. Kelly Clarkson — Since U Been Gone

5. Katy Perry — Teenage Dream

6. Ariana Grande — Into You

7. ’NSync — It’s Gonna Be Me

8. Robyn — Show Me Love

9. Britney Spears — Oops! … I Did It Again

10. Taylor Swift — Style

You can read last week’s music in brief here.