Charli XCX Opens Up About Getting Advice From Ariana Grande & Bonding Over ‘Sympathy Is a Knife’

Sympathy is a knife, but Charli XCX and Ariana Grande are watching each other’s backs.

In a new interview with Variety published Wednesday (Dec. 4), the 32-year-old alt-pop star opened up about her bond with the 31-year-old Wicked singer-actress — whom Charli says gave her a lot of support on multiple career fronts as they were working on their October remix of fan-favorite Brat track “Sympathy Is a Knife.” “She had a lot to say,” the “Von Dutch” artist began of her collaborator.

Noting that Grande “gravitated” toward “Sympathy Is a Knife,” Charli added, “We went back and forth on the lyrics, talking about all the knives that we both felt in this industry.”

The “Yes, And?” artist also apparently encouraged Charli’s acting ambitions, which, in the near future, will include parts in Benito Skinner’s Overcompensating series, Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex film, Daniel Goldhaber’s Faces of Death remake and Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero graphic-novel adaptation. Grande, who hosted Saturday Night Live in September, also showed the “Apple” artist the ropes before the latter helmed a November episode of the comedy series.

“She’d obviously just done [‘SNL’] and killed it, so I was getting tips,” Charli told the publication. “She was just like, ‘You’re gonna be amazing, just relax, it’s so fun.'”

Grande’s spin on “Sympathy Is a Knife” was just one of numerous remixes on Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat, a companion LP to Charli’s blockbuster sixth studio album. On the track, both women delve into their least favorite aspects of fame and the music industry, singing, “It’s a knife when you’re finally on top/ ‘Cause logically the next step is they wanna see you fall to the bottom.”

Billie Eilish, Lorde, Troye Sivan, Addison Rae, Tinashe, The 1975 and more were also featured on the Brat remix album, which dropped Oct. 11. The project served to build on the career-boosting whirlwind started by the original record, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in June — Charli’s first-ever top five album.

“Crash was me kind of playing at being a major-label pop artist,” the star told Variety, reflecting on her unexpected success with Brat. “It’s funny now to see how Brat has dwarfed it, because I was so prepared for this record to be just for my audience.”