Lorde praises Charli XCX's new album amid track speculation

Lorde has heaped praise on Charli XCX's new album Brat amid speculation that one of its songs is about her.

The Royals singer took to her Instagram Stories on Friday to express her admiration for the British pop star's sixth studio album.

"The only album I've ever presaved is out today. Charli just cooked this one different," she wrote next to the Brat album cover. "So much grit, grace & skin in the game.

"I speak for all of us when I say it's an honour to be moved, changed and gagged by her work. There is NO ONE like this b**ch. Brava and welcome Brat."

Her praise comes amid speculation about Charli's track Girl, So Confusing, which details her complicated feelings towards a female singer.

"Yeah, I don't know if you like me/ Sometimes I think you might hate me/ Sometimes I think I might hate you/ Maybe you just wanna be me," she sings in the first verse.

Fans believe she is singing about Lorde thanks to lyrics such as "they say we've got the same hair", "I think we're totally different" and "you're all about writing poems/ but I'm about throwing parties".

Charli recently admitted she was "super jealous" of the success Lorde experienced with her 2013 debut single Royals.

"You piece all this stuff together in your brain, like: 'She was into my music. She had big hair; I had big hair. She wore black lipstick; I once wore black lipstick'," Charli told Rolling Stone last month. "You create these parallels and think, 'Well, that could have been me.' But it couldn't have because we're completely different people."

During an appearance on Las Culturistas podcast earlier this week, the 31-year-old said of the song, "I haven't quite decided whether I'm revealing (who it's about). When I wrote it, I was like, 'I'm revealing.' But now the time is here... My thing is, people are gonna guess."