Girl, So Confusing

"Girl, So Confusing" (stylized in sentence case) is a song by the British singer Charli XCX from her sixth studio album ''Brat'' (2024). She wrote the song with the English producer A. G. Cook, who also assisted in its production, and released it through Atlantic Records. A glitch-influenced indie dance song, "Girl, So Confusing" is built on talk-sing Auto-Tune vocals and a throbbing bassline. It deals with Charli XCX's strained relationship with another female musician.

Upon its release, fans and critics speculated about the subject of the song; many believed it to be about the Japanese and English singer Rina Sawayama, the Welsh singer Marina Diamandis, or the New Zealand singer Lorde. Charli XCX later confirmed in a profile interview with ''Billboard'' that the latter artist served as the muse behind the track's subject.

A remix featuring Lorde was released on 21 June 2024. It builds on the original track's lyrics and provides an answer from Lorde, who discusses her own insecurities. The remix received universal acclaim from music critics, with many praising its lyrics and themes. It featured prominently on year-end listicles; ''Exclaim!'' and ''The Independent'' placed the remix at the top spot on their respective lists. Commercially, the remix charted in the top 40 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and peaked in mid-tier positions in Australia, Canada, and the United States. It received a gold certification from Music Canada (MC).

Background

Charli XCX first teased "Girl, So Confusing" in a February 2024 interview with '' The Face''. Shaad D'Souza then wrote that the track was "sure to send Deuxmoi and Discord servers into overdrive" as it "finds Charli singing about the fraught relationship she has with an unnamed female artist". She later clarified on her TikTok account that ''Brat'' did not contain any " diss tracks", with the exception of the album's lead single, "Von Dutch" (2024). The singer wrote the song as a way to explore the nuanced and complex relationships female pop artists are expected to maintain between one another in the limelight.

Speculation

Upon the release of ''Brat'', ''Out''s Mey Rude reported about fans' speculations that the song may be about the Japanese and British singer Rina Sawayama, the Welsh singer Marina Diamandis or the New Zealand singer Lorde. Charli XCX and Sawayama collaborated on the 2022 song "Beg for You", from Charli XCX's fifth studio album '' Crash'' (2022). The following year, the pair's relationship was reported to be damaged due to a feud between Sawayama and the 1975 frontman Matty Healy. Charli XCX is engaged to the 1975's drummer George Daniel. The "girl" in the track's title was speculated to be a reference to Sawayama's second studio album ''Hold the Girl'' (2022).

Feud and resolution with Marina Diamandis

Charli XCX and Diamandis collaborated in 2013 on "Just Desserts", a standalone single used to promote Diamandis' the Lonely Hearts Club Tour, with Charli XCX performing as an opening act. In 2016, Charli XCX released a series of fruit-themed photos, shot by photographer Charlotte Rutherford, for an advertisement campaign with British fragrance company Impulse. Diamandis, who had previously worked with Rutherford, wrote on Charli XCX's Instagram account, "That Froot looks familiar!", which became a meme phrase. Charli XCX responded, stating that she did not use Diamandis' artwork for inspiration on the advertisement campaign as she was unaware of the illustrations, but confessed that after seeing the images, they shared similarities with Diamandis' photoshoot. In a comment posted on Charli XCX's 360_brat Instagram account in 2023, Charli stated that she felt "really hurt and upset and confused" by Diamandis' decision to respond publicly to the situation, further leading speculations that the subject of "Girl, So Confusing" was Diamandis.

However, upon the album's release and the remix of "Girl, So Confusing", Marina wrote on X, "This is beautiful. Just cried listening to it. It's so courageous and human to make work about this topic and it's so healing to listen to it." Charli responded to the post with: "Aww Marina!! Tumblr girls rise!" and Marina replied: "Crying <3 <3 <3". ''Rolling Stone'' suggested this showed that they had reconciled over their fallout on Instagram.

Comparison with Lorde

Lorde experienced mainstream success after releasing her debut single " Royals" and debut album ''Pure Heroine'' in 2013. The artist's aesthetic and physical features were compared by media outlets to those of Charli, who also released her debut album ''True Romance'' that same year and achieved mainstream success with her 2012 collaboration " I Love It" with Swedish synth-pop duo Icona Pop. In a 2014 interview, Charli XCX was mistaken for Lorde when the interviewer asked her about the inspiration for "her" song "Royals". Charli XCX did not correct the interviewer but rather played along and answered the question. This later inspired a decade-long meme comparing the two singers. In a May 2024 interview with ''Rolling Stone UK'', Charli XCX revealed she had initially been envious of Lorde and her commercial success with "Royals" and compared her physical features with those of Lorde. However, she confessed that their different musical styles had assured her that they were "two completely different people" and that she thought this way due to insecurities about her own work.

Composition and lyrics

"Girl, So Confusing" has been described as a glitch-influenced indie dance song built on talk-sing Auto-Tune vocals and a throbbing bassline. ''The New York Times'' writer Lindsay Zoladz wrote that the production had a "strobe-lit beat", while ''Pitchfork''s Meaghan Garvey called the song "sparkly" and "scuzzy". Charli XCX's vocals were compared to those of American-French singer Uffie by ''PopMatters'' editor Nick Malone, describing them as having a "husky timbre" before changing into "unimaginably catchy spirals." Hannah Mylrea of ''NME'' compared its production to Charli XCX's 2017 hyperpop mixtape, '' Pop 2''. '' Consequence'' writer Paolo Ragusa noted that the pitched-up "Girl!" vocal samples sound "chipper and deflated". According to Ryan Bulbeck of ''Renowned for Sound'', the song incorporates fuzzy synths and pitched backing vocals.

Upon release, the song was widely discussed by media outlets, due to its subject matter. The lyric, "Think you should come to my party / And put your hands up" was interpreted to be a response to Lorde's 2013 single, "Team", where she sings, "I'm kind of over gettin' told to throw my hands up in the air / So there". The line "You're all about writing poems" was viewed as a reference to Lorde's poetic songwriting and ''Melodrama'' track, " Writer in the Dark" (2017). ''Exclaim!'' described the song as being a "bit petty, a bit sweet, bravely embarrassing, and combative". During an interview with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang for their ''Las Culturistas'' podcast, Charli XCX affirmed that while she respects the growing companionship between female artists in pop music, she also sees the nuances between said relationships: "I don't think you become a bad feminist if you maybe don't see eye to eye with every single woman. That's not the nature of human beings. There's a competitiveness between us. There's envy. There's camaraderie. There's all of these different dynamics."

Commercial performance

"Girl, So Confusing" peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. The track charted for five weeks. It debuted at number 63 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and charted for two weeks. It peaked at number 3 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and placed at number 17 on its year-end chart. On the ''Billboard'' auxiliary Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs and Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales charts, the track peaked at number two, behind American DJ Marshmello and American singer Kane Brown's 2024 collaboration " Miles on It". It became the highest charting single for both artists. In the Canadian Hot 100, the track peaked at number 57 and charted for two weeks. The track peaked at number 50 on the ARIA Charts. It peaked at number 59 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200 chart. In New Zealand, the song peaked at number 24. It received a gold certification from Music Canada (MC) for sales of 40,000 units.

Lorde remix

Background and release

Charli XCX attempted communication with Lorde for a collaboration for almost a year but was unsuccessful in meeting with the singer to write material. In a ''Billboard'' interview, she stated that this "spoke to the narrative of the song itself." A day before releasing ''Brat'', Charli XCX sent Lorde a voice note explaining that she was the inspiration behind the song. She revealed to New Zealand radio DJ Zane Lowe on his Apple Music 1 show that she was prepared for Lorde to "never speak to her again." Due to time zone differences between Charli and Lorde, who resides in New Zealand, she heard the song before receiving Charli's message. Lorde replied instantly, however, apologising for her actions and suggested that she feature on a remix of the track. Charli XCX revealed that the remix took three days to materialise.

Upon the release of ''Brat'', Lorde praised the album on her Instagram Stories, revealing it was the "only album he'sever pre-saved". On 11 June 2024, Lorde attended Charli XCX's show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. Charli XCX announced a collaboration with Lorde on 20 June 2024 by hiring a team of house painters who painted Lorde's name on a white wall located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. A remix of the track with Lorde was released the following day. The remix was included as the tenth track on her first remix album, ''Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat''. The two performed the remix at Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's Sweat show in Madison Square Garden in September 2024, and at the Coachella music festival in April 2025.

Lorde stated that writing her verse for the remix led her to feel "deep empathy" for Charli XCX, but "misunderstood" with a sense of urgency to "make it right" between the two. The singer also credits Charli XCX for opening a "channel" between them and allowing her to say things she had not said before. After the remix was released, Charli XCX posted a screenshot of Lorde's text message in which she sent Charli the entirety of her verse, to which Charli replied, "Fucking hell".

Themes and lyrical interpretation

The remix expands on the original track's discussion of complex and competitive dynamics within female friendships, jealousy, insecurities, and rivalry, and provides an answer from Lorde, who explores her struggles with body image, disordered eating, and self-confidence on her verse. Lorde's verse was described by critics as "honest", "vulnerable", and "cathartic". ''Clash'' declared the remix an "inversion" of the original, calling it a "celebration of female energy and a condemnation of the aspects that keep women apart." Similarly, ''Exclaim!'' noted that the remix reframed the original track's "nervy monologue into a healing and surprisingly affecting dialogue between two left-field pop stars who've been pitted against one another" since their adolescent years. The lyrics were described by ''The New York Times'' as being "mutually messy risk-taking, honest reckoning with the fun-house mirrors of fame and conflict resolution you can dance to."

Critical reception

Upon release, the song received universal acclaim from music critics, many of which praised the song's lyrics and themes, calling it one of the most important pop culture moments of the year. ''Vulture''s Jason P. Frank and Alejandra Gularte wrote that Lorde's verse "fits directly into the world of ''Brat''" due to its honesty. Jeremy D. Larson of ''Pitchfork'' awarded the song its Best New Track distinction, calling it a "meeting of the minds, two great pop stars being vulnerable and self-aware while making a watershed moment in pop in the process." '' Clash'' writer Robin Murray called it a milestone and revelatory, awarding it a 9 out of 10 score. ''The New York Times'' editor Lindsay Zoladz called it a refreshing moment, while ''Exclaim!''s Kaelen Bell selected it as one of the publication's staff picks, stating that it was a "watershed moment" amid the "anodyne therapy and straining empowerment" prevalent in the "last decade of pop music". Similarly, Derrick Rossignol of ''Uproxx'' awarded the song its Best New Pop distinction, while ''The Guardian'' writer Alim Kheraj called it the year's most powerful pop moment.

The track was further praised by music critics following the release of ''Brat''s remix album, ''Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat''. ''AP News'', ''Dazed'', and '' DIY'' ranked the song as the best song from the remix album. ''Billboard'' ranked it fifth in their song ranking of the remix album, with Katie Bain stating that the track helped to "draw out the true confessions of big stars like Ariana Grande and the 1975s Matty Healy." The remix won the 2024 Popjustice £20 Music Prize, a prize which recognises the best British pop single of the year. The remix ranked at number one in a readers poll published by ''Pitchfork''. In May 2025, the collaboration won the award for Single of the Year at the New Zealand 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

{{Popjustice 20
2024 songs
Charli XCX songs
Lorde songs
Songs written by Charli XCX
Songs written by Lorde
Songs written by A. G. Cook
Song recordings produced by A. G. Cook
Songs about musicians