The song, titled Actually Romantic, is centered on a fellow, unnamed pop star, causing social media to explode with theories that it serves as a diss track aimed at Charli XCX, BBC News reports. During a cinema screening that accompanied the new album, Swift stated the track is "a love letter to someone who hates you," BBC News noted. The 35-year-old pop star refrained from naming the song's subject, but she did mockingly express her gratitude for their attention, saying, "It's flattering."

"Actually Romantic" holds the seventh spot on Swift's highly anticipated new album, The Life of A Showgirl. Within the lyrics, she refers to another singer who refers to Swift as a "boring Barbie" and composes music expressing intense dislike for her. On social media, fans have become convinced this track is a reaction to Charli XCX's song, Sympathy is a Knife, from her Brat album, a track the 33-year-old allegedly wrote regarding Swift, BBC News reported.

Charli XCX's album Brat, which was released in June 2024, earned her a second number 1 album in the UK, according to Getty Images. In that composition, Charli sings about experiencing insecurity regarding a woman who appears backstage at her then-boyfriend's concert. Charli XCX sings, "Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiralling. One voice tells me that they laugh, George says, "I'm just paranoid", and she adds the wish, "Fingers crossed behind my back. I hope they break up real quick".

Swift had a brief romantic relationship with Matty Healy, the frontman for the band The 1975; George Daniel, Charli's now-husband and then-boyfriend, is the drummer for that band. Swift expresses in her new track that it is "actually romantic" that the other pop star dedicates so much of their time to her. She sings that the antagonism "Sounded nasty but it feels like you're flirting with me," adding, "All the effort you've put in, it's actually romantic."

Neither of the artists has confirmed that their respective songs are about the other. Swift complimented Charli in an interview with New York Magazine just last year. Swift was quoted by New York Magazine saying, "I've been blown away by Charli's melodic sensibilities since I first heard 'Stay Away' in 2011," but the recently released track has prompted fans to speculate that the supposed conflict has reignited.

The launch event film for "The Life of a Showgirl" premiered in cinemas on Friday, featuring a mixture of behind-the-scenes footage, a music video, and explanations of the songs. In a concise opening to "Actually Romantic", Swift offered new clarity about the song's intent, stating it concerns the unexpected realization that a person is an integral part of someone else's narrative. Swift said, "There can be this moment where it's unveiled to you, through things that they do that are very overt," adding, "And, as I've gotten older, I've just started to be like, 'Oh my God, you did so much with this. It's flattering,'", BBC News reported. She further explained, "That is, wow, that is very, very sweet of you to think about me this much, even if it's negative. In my industry, attention is affection, and you've given me a whole lot of it."

Attendees at a Taylor Swift-only club night called "Swiftogeddon" in Clapham, south London, on Friday evening confessed they spent the entire day meticulously analyzing the new lyrics. Attending the event with her 21-year-old friend Scarlett was Anya, a 24-year-old from Brighton, who noted that she does not have to extensively decode the lyrics "because the internet does it for me," BBC News reported. Anya was convinced "Actually Romantic" was about Charli, expressing her connection to the song's words by telling BBC News, "It's universal, we've all had that feeling," but Tanya, 27, who is a huge Charli XCX fan, voiced her opinion that it was not "very fair or feminist" for Swift to seemingly criticize Charli. Tanya also stated, "I don't think she should've done it. But, hey, freedom of expression, I guess."

Fans have consistently attempted to decipher Swift's lyrics to pinpoint the subjects of her songs. This newest album proves no different. Besides the songs that are clearly dedicated to her fiancé, Travis Kelce, other tracks that have been widely speculated about online include Father Figure (thought to be about music executive Scott Borchetta), Cancelled! (possibly about the status of her friendship with Blake Lively), and Opalite (which some speculate is about Kelce's ex, Kayla Nicole). Swift, widely known for writing numerous break-up songs, has previously mentioned that she will never confirm the identities of the people her songs address.

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Research from Queen Mary University highlights a 30% decrease in melody complexity in pop music over the past seven decades.

The study analyzed 1,131 melodies from 360 year-end singles on the Billboard charts from 1950 to 2022 and found that vocal melody complexity in popular music has decreased by 30% over time, with significant declines in 1975, 1996, and 2000.

The simplification of melodies could be attributed to the emergence of new music genres like stadium rock, disco, hip-hop, new wave, and the rise of digital instruments, which may have allowed for musical complexity to be expressed through sound quality rather than melodies.

While the complexity of song rhythms and pitch arrangements decreased, the average number of notes played per second increased, potentially balancing out the melodic simplicity. However, the increase in note density since 2000 may have limited the complexity of melodies in modern music.

The changes in music complexity do not necessarily mean that music is dumbing down, as the complexity of other musical components like timbre or harmony has not necessarily decreased. Different studies have identified revolutions in popular music at varying times, possibly due to focusing on different music features.

Melodic repetitions within songs have increased in the last two decades, related to the use of loops. Songs are now created with streaming and clicks in mind, leading to more repetitive and simple compositions that foster the development of earworms.

The decrease in melodic complexity may be an adaptation to modern musical trends and the digital age's demand for compressed language, as reflected in a 2023 study that showed Western Pop music is becoming simpler and angrier, with lyrics becoming more repetitive and using a smaller vocabulary.

Sources: The Guardian, The New York Times, Far Out Magazine, El País, Aussiedlerbote , Phys.org

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Israel's entry for the Eurovision 2021 pop song competition will be chosen on Jan. 25 during a special broadcast on Kan 11 News hosted by Lucy Ayoub.

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The special program will feature Israel's Eurovision representative, Eden Alene – whose scheduled appearance in 2020 was cancelled when the event was axed due to coronavirus – singing the three final contenders: "La La Love," "Set Me Free," and "O La La."

The winner will represent Israel at this year's Eurovision event, scheduled to take place in the Netherlands, pandemic permitting.

However, it appears that the Europeans are less than enthused about the songs, which have already been made public. After they were unveiled, bookmakers were putting Israel in next-to-last place to win the competition.

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The English writers' agency The Blair Partnership has signed Dana International to work as a literary agent for writers from the LGBTQ community all over the world.

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Dana International, the agent, has been charged with finding new writers and voices and helping publish their work and bringing that work to an international audience.

The Blair Partnership is one of England's most prestigious literary agencies and its clients include Rowling.

The Israeli star was somewhat surprised when the agency reached out.

"It's not something I ever thought about doing, and admit I was a little worried about disappointing them. It took me two days to say I'd be delighted, and a few days later we were already discussing a few ideas they were happy to listen to, which bolstered my confidence," Dana said.

"I believe that in Israel there are enormous talents who would be huge throughout the world if it weren't for the language barrier. Maybe this project will get some of them published and appreciated," she added.

What piques the new agent's interest?

"I'm interested in reading writers from Russia, the Ukraine, Arab countries and places where homosexuality is outlawed, where the LGBTQ community lives in fear and in secret, and I believe that wonderful work can come from those places," she said.

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