Christopher Polk/TAS18/Getty ImagesThis will not sit well with Swifties.
Charli XCX is reflecting on her time on Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour. Back in 2018, the Grammy winner invited Charli and Camila Cabello to open for her on the highly-anticipated tour, which Charli seemed very excited about at the time.
"I AM SO EXCITED THANK U TAYLOR FOR HAVING ME," the "Boom Clap" singer tweeted in March 2018.
But, after playing over 50 stadiums on the tour, it sounds like Charli has changed her tune.
"I'm really grateful that [Taylor] asked me on that tour," the 27-year-old says in her cover story for Pitchfork, published Tuesday. "But as an artist, it kind of felt like I was getting up on stage and waving to 5-year-olds."
And it seems as though Charli is done opening for any artist, ever again.
"I've done so much of it, and it really cemented my status as this underdog character, which I like now," she tells Pitchfork. "But I need to just own my own f--king s--t finally."
After Charli's interview started to make headlines, she took to social media to address her comments about the tour.
"Hey [heart emojis] a few people on the internet have taken something I said out of context and I want to clarify there is absolutely no shade and only love here!" Charli wrote. "As I say in the article and have said many times before, I am extremely grateful to Taylor for inviting me to open for her. She's one of the biggest artists of my generation and the reputation tour was one of the biggest tours in history."
"In the printed version of this much wider conversation my answers about this tour were boiled down into one kind of weird sentence," Charli continued. "Leading up to that tour I'd been playing a tonne of 18+ club shows and so to be on stage in front of all ages was new to me and made me approach my performances with a whole new kind of energy – more so I talked about how it was brilliant opening for Taylor, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given and how much fun it was to perform to a new audience!"
"Any tour I've been on with any other artist as an opening act has always taught me so much," she added. "It's always wonderful to watch other artists do their thing, own their stage and speak their language to their dedicated fan bases – and this was especially true for the reputation tour."
When Charli wrapped up the tour with T.Swift in November, she wrote that she was "happy" she got to be a part of a "huge tour" with "great people."
"OMG TOUR IS OVER!!!! IF U SAW ME LIVE THIS YEAR COMMENT THE NAME OF THE CITY U SAW ME PERFORM IN BELOW!!! I wanna reminisce!!!!!" Charli told her fans on Instagram. "I feel happy and sad all at once. Happy that I got to be a part of such a huge tour with so many great people (example - @taylorswift @camila_cabello @broodsmusic), happy that I got to perform my songs in such huge rooms to so many new people, happy that a lot of those people actually knew those songs (LOL!) and happy that I got to throw my own parties along the way for the hardcore angels who like to rave until 5am once everyone else has gone to bed hehe. Sad because... well it's all over now!!!"
To check out Charli's digital cover, head on over to Pitchfork!