11 of Taylor Swift’s best lyrical burns

• Fans think a song on Taylor Swift’s new album is a thinly veiled jab at singer Charli XCX.
• Swift has delivered several devastating lyrical blows to exes and rivals over the years.
• Here are 11 of Swift’s best lyrical burns, ranked in order of least to most heat.

“If guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them, then they shouldn’t do bad things.”

That’s what Taylor Swift told a reporter in 2010 when asked about her songwriting inspiration. Swift has caught a lot of flak over the years for writing songs about ex-boyfriends, but they’re not the only people she’s dissed in her lyrics.

Swift’s sharpest barbs stand out for their gutting specificity, and since her music is so autobiographical, fans often try to piece together who they’re aimed at. Swift almost never confirms who her songs are about, but she often drops hints. In “thanK you aIMee,” for instance, the unusual use of capitalization indicates the song is likely about Kim Kardashian, a noted adversary of Swift’s since 2016.

“Actually Romantic,” track seven off Swift’s latest album “The Life of a Showgirl,” is the latest example of this — Business Insider’s senior pop culture writer Callie Ahlgrim wrote that it was “unmistakably a Charli XCX diss track.”

In honor of the song and Swift’s new album, here’s a look at some of Swift’s other sickest lyrical burns. I ranked them in order of gut-wrenching specificity and factored in cultural impact, plus whether I think the song is any good or not.

11. Actually Romantic

Featured lyric: “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave”

Burn level: Singe

All signs point to Charli XCX as Swift’s target in this track from her most recent album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” In 2024, Charli released the track “Sympathy is a knife,” which is rumored to be about Taylor Swift. In that song, Charli sings, “Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back, I hope they break up quick.”

At the time, Swift was dating Matty Healy, the frontman of The 1975 and bandmate of Charli’s now-husband George Daniel. Swift and Healy had a short-lived relationship, and Healy is now engaged to Gabbriette Bechtel, one of Charli’s friends.

In “Actually Romantic,” Swift snipes back at some of the sentiments Charli expressed in “Sympathy is a knife.” She claims that Charli’s lyrics about her are actually romantic — likely also a play on another Charli track, “Everything is romantic,” from her album “Brat” — and that she takes the implied digs as flattery.

Swift’s condescension doesn’t really work here, and her song doesn’t have the same lyrical complexity as the one it rebuts. “Sympathy is a knife” is about how seeing Swift’s success brings Charli’s insecurities to the surface, which makes her both dislike Swift and dislike herself. “Actually Romantic” has none of that duality, and it just comes off as mean.

10. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

Featured lyric: “You deserve prison but you won’t get time”

Burn level: Singe

“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” recounts how an ex essentially dulled Taylor’s shine over the course of their relationship. Fans think it’s also about Matty Healy. They point to lines like “you tried to buy some pills from a friend of mine” as indicative of Healy, who has been candid about his drug use.

Admittedly, the line “You deserve prison but you won’t get time” is a pretty sick burn, but the overall song is more sad than angry, which is why it’s getting a low placement on this list.

9. This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Featured lyric: “This is why we can’t have nice things, darling / Because you break them, I have to take them away”

Burn level: Flame

In my opinion, this is one of the weaker tracks on Swift’s angriest album, “Reputation.” It’s rumored to be about Kim K and Kanye, thanks to the line, “And therein lies the issue, friends don’t try to trick you / Get you on the phone and mind-twist you.”

The song doesn’t particularly stand out from the crowd and it executes Swift’s playful condescension less successfully than others on this list.

8. Karma

Featured lyric: “Spider-boy, king of thieves / Weave your little webs of opacity / My pennies make your crown”

Burn level: Flame

One of the biggest hits off “Midnights,” “Karma” is more of a self-affirming song than a real diss track. It’s catchy, it’s fun, and seems to hint at Swift’s beef with Scooter Braun, the producer Swift battled for ownership of her music catalog. The song is an example of some of Swift’s more cringey lyricism, but I’ll still sing along when it’s on.

7. Mr. Perfectly Fine

Featured lyric: “Mr. Never Told Me Why, Mr. Never Had to See Me Cry / Mr. Insincere Apology so He Doesn’t Look Like the Bad Guy”

Burn level: Flame

This scathing single comes from “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and is one of the vault tracks that makes you wonder why Swift even cut it from the original lineup in the first place. It’s about an ex who seems totally unbothered by a recent breakup, hence “Mr. Perfectly Fine.” It’s rumored to be about Joe Jonas, who started dating his next girlfriend not long after splitting from Swift.

6. We are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Featured lyric: “And you would hide away and find your peace of mind / With some indie record that’s much cooler than mine”

Burn level: Roast

The ultimate toxic ex breakup song! It’s fun, frothy, and features the best of Taylor’s impersonations. As a kid, I had so much fun intoning along to the part: “So he calls me up and he’s like, I still love you…”

OK, the content of the song is mostly repeating the title over and over again, but it’s so fun and biting and one of her biggest hits, which is why it’s closer to the top of this list.

5. Mean

Featured lyric: “Someday I’ll be living in a big ol’ city / And all you’re ever gonna be is mean”

Burn level: Roast

They say success is the best revenge, and Swift has taken that to heart. “Mean” was all over the radio back in the day, and for good reason. It’s a country pop hit that delivers plenty of venom to Swift’s early haters and bullies. The image of your hater spewing off at the bar, to the annoyance of everyone around them, while you’re living your best life in a big city, is top tier.

4. All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

Featured lyric: “And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes / I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age”

Burn level: Roast

Let’s be clear here: The original five-minute version of “All Too Well” does not rate among her sickest burns. It’s too sad — though I personally consider it one of her best songs overall.

The 10 minute version, released as part of the “Red (Taylor’s Version)” vault more than 10 years after the original song, is a different beast. It’s replete with new verses that take aim at the subject — who many fans take to be Swift’s ex-boyfriend and actor Jake Gyllenhaal — with wonderfully detailed digs like “And you were tossing me the car keys, ‘Fuck the patriarchy’ keychain on the ground” to hint at the ex’s performative feminism.

This gets top marks for the how iconic the song is on its own and the fact that it delivered sick, specific burns about the ex constantly dating younger girls and performing for the female gaze. It’s also got the cultural impact of being Swift’s longest song, one of the most highly anticipated tracks from the “Red (Taylor’s Version)” vault, and being accompanied by a short film starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink.

3. Picture to Burn

Featured lyric: “I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive / You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying”

Burn level: Roast

The only song from Swift’s debut album to grace this list, “Picture to Burn” is so wonderfully country and lets Swift rock out a little bit. Falling for a heartthrob who’s a bad liar and way too obsessed with his pickup truck? I know some women who could relate. Plus, there’s something so delicious about a Taylor Swift who sounds so young and green delivering those biting lines through her 15-year-old country twang.

2. Better Than Revenge

Featured lyric: “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think, she’s an actress, woah / She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress”

Burn level: Roast

This early hit off Swift’s third album, “Speak Now,” takes aim at an ex’s new girlfriend. Fans theorize it’s about Camilla Belle, an actress who dated Joe Jonas after he and Swift broke up, although Swift herself has never confirmed who the song is about.

Swift expressed some regret about the original lyrics of the song, specifically the mattress line. When she recorded “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” she swapped out that lyric for the much tamer “He was a moth to the flame / She was holding the matches.”

Many fans agree the original version hits harder, even though it’s not feminist.

1. I Bet You Think About Me

Featured lyric: “Mr. Superior Thinking, do you have all the space that you need? / I don’t have to be your shrink to know that you’ll never be happy”

Burn level: Incineration

This is the roast to end all roasts. The mother of all diss tracks, even though we can’t be 100% sure about who it is she’s dissing. Fans think it’s about Jake Gyllenhaal and/or John Mayer because of lyric similarities to the songs that are all but confirmed about them: “All Too Well” and “Dear John,” respectively.

“I Bet You Think About Me” is about living rent-free in your ex’s head, sure in the knowledge that you are the one that got away. Swift perfects the condescending tone that falls a little flatter in some of the earlier songs on this list, and she delivers the perfect amount of specific, biting detail about an ex who’s a rich poser: “Mr. Superior Thinking,” with his “organic shoes” and his “million dollar couch.”

Chris Stapleton does the backing vocals, and sick burns aside, it’s a really great song. Chef’s kiss. No notes.