From pork to beef: Peppa Pig shades Clairo

Clairo shade strikes again.

Beloved cartoon character and child pop star Peppa Pig recently stopped by the Pitchfork offices to participate in a game of the website’s famed interview game, Over/Under—rating everything from grown-ups to headphones to The Beatles (who Peppa assumed were an all-insect band). She doled out some hot takes—After-parties? Overrated. Shoegaze? Peppa’s never heard of it—and sang the praises of some of her favorite pop stars, like fellow UK singer PinkPantheress (“Her name is Pink? That’s the best name ever!”) and Sabrina Carpenter (who recently collaborated with another universally beloved pig diva). 

But one artist did not get such a warm reaction from Peppa. When asked to rate Clairo, Peppa responded: “I don’t know her,” but a devious look in the four-year-old pig’s eyes suggested that she was pleading the fifth in order to throw shade at the Charm singer. 

This isn’t Peppa’s first musical beef—Iggy Azalea once threatened to turn the pig popstar into a “breakfast special” when the two shared an album release day in 2019. But while Azalea’s Peppa shade was unprovoked as far as we know, this time it’s Peppa throwing the first verbal punch. It’s unclear at the moment whether there’s preexisting bad blood between Peppa and Clairo, but Clairo is the only one of the two with a Pitchfork Best New Track designation and multiple positive album reviews under her belt. Meanwhile, Peppa’s 2021 LP, Peppa’s Adventures: The Album, only got a middling 6.5 score. Jealousy’s not a good look, Peppa—especially considering that during her own Over/Under interview back in 2019, Clairo gave Peppa a resounding “underrated.” 

In response, Clairo shared a screenshot of a text message from her friend Charli XCX, who went on the defensive with some NSFW words (Mummy Pig, you might wanna cover Peppa’s ears for this one): “let’s fuck her up.” Those are strong words directed at a pop star who is, after all, only four years old, but I guess you’re never too young to learn that you shouldn’t dish it out if you can’t take it. 

Peppa’s fighting words have earned her some powerful enemies. The Clairo shade was enough to make PinkPantheress reject Peppa’s praise outright, tweeting “ain’t shit sweet until you put respect on clairo” followed by a 100 emoji.  

The pop world is notorious for pitting women against one another, so it’s sad to see these talented girlies beefing. And if Clairo wants the smoke, maybe she should address Peppa herself instead of letting Miss XCX speak for her. Hopefully Clairo and Peppa will take a cue from another more commendable Charli XCX moment and work it out on the remix, and Clairo will remember that inside that icon, there’s still a young girl from Peppatown.

This is a developing story.

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