Get the latest gossip
Charli XCX and Lorde’s conflict resolution is the year’s most powerful pop moment | Alim Kheraj
Squabbles between pop stars have been around for decades, but this one is different – by reconciling in song, the two singers expose pressures put on women while asserting their agency
On one level it felt similar to the feuds that have recently dominated popular music, such as those between Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, or Kendrick Lamar and Drake – it was gossipy, with Charli refusing to confirm who it was about in a podcast interview, fuelling speculation all the more. Comparisons were inevitable between the two former Disney stars, both beautiful, blond and with bared midriffs – writing in this paper in 1999, Ed Vulliamy noted that “Christina has a ‘naughtier’ image than Britney’s corn-fed, midwest, wholesome look”. Listening to their unfiltered confessions, delivered without pop’s numbing penchant for therapy-speak or performative brand management, is like trespassing on something very real and private, as if you’ve stumbled upon two friends brutally but beautifully hashing out their differences.
Or read this on The Guardian
