Unpacking Charli XCX & Ariana Grande’s “Sympathy is a Knife” Remix

Charli XCX bid farewell to Brat summer — RIP, you will always be famous — but her sixth album’s lime-green aesthetic and Gen X-befuddling spirit aren’t going anywhere, thanks to a brand-new remix album. The collection, which dropped Oct. 11 and bears the unserious title of Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, is a genre-spanning reimagination building upon its cigarette-smoking, speaker-crunching predecessor.

The track list (announced via a crumpled-up paper gifted to a fan at the Sweat tour) includes previously released collabs with Billie Eilish, Lorde, and Troye Sivan, alongside new A-list features from Tinashe, The 1975, and Caroline Polachek. Still, the biggest surprise is an appearance by Ariana Grande, who took a break from her Wicked duties to provide a fresh spin on “Sympathy is a Knife.”

Though the original was a self-doubt anthem about an unnamed girl tapping Charli’s insecurities, the remix comes from a more confident, albeit exasperated, perspective. On the heels of Brat’s success, she’s no longer preoccupied by comparison to others, but rather examination of the self, the price of fame, and the pressure to maintain relevance. Charli admits as much in the chorus: “It’s a knife when you’re finally on top / Because logically, the next step is they want to see you fall.”

Over a more synth-y, glitchier, and handclap-driven beat, she cuts to the chase in the opening lyrics: “It’s a knife when you know they’re waiting for you to choke / It’s a knife when a journalist doesn’t misquote.” Has she really changed since the original album’s June release? It’s an answer that evades her grasp. (“Somebody says they like the old me / Not the new me, and I’m like / ‘Who the f*ck is she,’” its lyrics go.) Nevertheless, the vibes have shifted.

But if anyone has experienced the scrutiny reserved for female pop stars at the top of their game, it’s Ari. In the second verse, the Eternal Sunshine singer provides a laundry list of her own grievances: critics “counting on your mistakes” and speculation about procedures that “dissect your body on the front page.”

Lyrically, Grande recalls the spirit of “yes, and?” by refusing to address rumors, presumably about her appearance and relationship with Wicked co-star Ethan Slater. However, it’s implied her tight lips come from recognizing the general public’s lack of understanding. “When they won’t believe you / Why should you explain,” she cheekily croons, echoing Charli’s complaints about “mean fans” who miss “the old me.” (She even giggles, “Who the f*ck is she?”) A ringing and distorted outro codifies “Sympathy is a Knife”’s sonic rebirth, as Ari harmonizes over the repeating lyrics: “All this expectation is a knife / All the things I’ve said are just a knife.”

As Charli explained in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, the remix highlights how her “perspective has changed a lot” since the original record. “From where I was to now, I’m definitely finding more than ever that my words are being picked apart, taken out of context,” she said, adding that it gave her “so much empathy for bigger artists who go through that on a daily basis and have been for years.” The new verses were inspired by “a few interviews throughout the campaign where [she] felt … a little manipulated” or saw “agendas at play.” After hearing Grande wanted to collaborate, Charli pegged her for the remix as someone who “definitely knows this feeling more so than me.”

And while the original compared a knife to sympathy, the reworking equates it to bittersweet career success. “Obviously, [Ariana and I are] so lucky and blessed to be in the situation that we are in,” Charli said. “All artists who are able to make music at the level that they’re making it [and] financially supporting themselves from creating art [are] lucky.” That being said, feeling dehumanized, picked apart, or waiting for the other shoe to drop is a blade of its own.