If 2024 was the year of rap beef, then it’s starting to seem like 2025 will go down as the year of pop beef. Already, we’ve seen Lana swiping at Ethel, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj get very personal on X, Tyler, The Creator apparently diss Playboi Carti, and, now, to top it all off, Taylor Swift has just dropped a whole diss track which appears to take aim at Charli xcx. 

The latter appears on Swift’s twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which is released today. It’s apparently a response to Charli xcx’s Brat single “Sympathy is a Knife”, which fans had long speculated was about Swift. But where Charli’s track delved into her own insecurity surrounding the pop megastar, however, Swift’s “Actually Romantic” takes no prisoners: she compares Charli to a “toy chihuahua in a tiny purse”, and even makes an uncomfortable quip about the Brat star’s penchant for coke. It was today’s release, then, that escalated what had hitherto been pure hearsay into full blown pop beef.

Below, we round up all the major pop beefs so far in 2025.

TAYLOR SWIFT VS CHARLI XCX

Opening with the lyrics “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave”, there was no doubt that Swift’s “Actually Romantic” was a diss track, and fans’ minds immediately went to one person in particular: Charli xcx. The track appears to be jam-packed with subtle (and not-so-subtle) digs at Charli: doing a ‘cheeky bump’ formed no small part of the Brat campaign, while Swift’s later references to her ex and “your boyfriend” appear to align with the fact that she had previously dated Matty Healy, while Charli has long been in a relationship with (and is now married to) Healy’s bandmate, George Daniel. Even the track’s title appears to reference another Brat single “Everything is Romantic”. 

The public feud seemingly began when Charli released “Sympathy is a Knife” in 2024 which, in lyrics like “This one girl taps my insecurities […] George says I’m just paranoid” appeared to describe her insecurity in the face of Swift’s success. This was further compacted by the fact that Charli tweeted the name on the song on the same day that Swift dropped her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, last year. Far from being a diss track, though, “Sympathy is a Knife” casts Charli working through her insecurities, from dealing with suicidal ideation to talking it through with her partner. This made Swift’s response all the more cutting, essentially responding with: “You’re so obsessed with me, do you fancy me?”

The exchange forms an interesting parallel with another Brat cut, “Girl, so confusing”, on which Charli shares her discomfort at being compared to Lorde. Despite sending what could be perceived as subliminal messages to the Kiwi superstar, however, Lorde and Charli came together on the track’s remix, with Lorde delivering the healing line “Let’s work it out on the remix” and proceeding to level with Charli one-on-one. That’s probably the more mature way to handle things. 

LANA DEL RAY VS ETHEL CAIN

Swift isn’t the only popstar to drop a diss this year. Less than two months ago, Lana Del Rey very clearly sent shots at Ethel Cain in a track teaser posted on Instagram, subsequently blocking the Southern Gothic singer. The track opens with the line “Ethel Cain hated my Instagram post, think it’s cute reenacting my Chicago post”, appearing to reference the fact that both singers have dated Salem singer Jack Donoghue, who has appeared in Instagram pictures in Chicago with both stars. Later, Del Rey refers to “The most famous girl in the waffle house”, referring to the headline of a 2022 New York Times article about Cain (which Del Rey also shared to Instagram on the day the track teaser dropped).

Later that same day, Del Rey further explained the track, claiming that Cain used to body shame her. “I don’t know who Ethel was until a few years ago – when someone brought to my attention the disturbing and graphic side-by-side images she would often put up of me next to unflattering creatures and cartoon characters making constant comments about my weight, I was confused at what she was getting at,” Del Rey wrote in an Instagram comment. “Then when I heard what she was saying behind closed doors from mutual friends and started inserting herself into my personal life I was definitely disturbed.” While Cain never publicly responded to the track, her sister hit back at Del Rey in a now-deleted Instagram post reading: “I can’t wait to watch your hologram perform this ‘diss track’ while you hit your vape backstage”, subsequently tagging Del Rey in the post.

TYLER, THE CREATOR VS PLAYBOI CARTI

And it’s not just the pop girlies, either. In his guest appearance on Clipse’s critically-acclaimed comeback album Let God Sort Em Out, Tyler, The Creator appeared to send shots at rage rap pioneer Playboi Carti. On the track “P.O.V.”, Tyler raps: “Little feature, n***as threaten to sue me? Tell your lawyer to set the fee [...] you n***as is bums”. Explaining the verse on X, Tyler wrote that the line was about “an old friend ive [sic] made music with [who] threatened to sue me over a feature they gave me”.

Fans quickly speculated that the lyrics refer to Playboi Carti’s feature on “Thought I Was Dead” from Tyler’s 2024 album CHROMAKOPIA, which was removed before release but still remains on early vinyl pressings of the project. This appeared to be further substantiated by (as of yet unconfirmed) rumours that Carti’s team had sent a cease and desist to Tyler over his “P.O.V.” verse.

NICKI MINAJ VS CARDI B AND SZA

While not the subject of any diss tracks as of yet, “Anaconda” star Nicki Minaj has gone toe-to-toe with both SZA and Cardi B on X this year. The former exchange took place in July of this year, in which Minaj accused SZA’s manager, Punch Henderson, of bullying her for rejecting his business proposal, prompting SZA to tweet “Mercury retrograde .. don’t take the bait lol silly goose”. The two then proceeded to butt heads, with SZA teasing Minaj for requesting a feature in the past, and even posting screenshots of their private exchange.

Minaj’s feud with Cardi B, however, is still currently ongoing, with Minaj referring to Cardi as “Barney B”, and Cardi responding with the insult “Cocaine Barbie”. The beef appeared to originate in a tweet from Minaj mocking the $4.99 discount of Cardi’s new album, but has since devolved into insults from both sides about the other’s families and personal lives. This feud does, however, err closer to a traditional rap beef in the sense that Minaj has also posted lyrics aimed at Cardi online, writing: “Abcdef geeeee / SUR GER REEE TO LOOK LIKE MEEE / tell the rat & tell J ZEEEE / RICO FRAUD & PERJURY”.