Olivia Rodrigo's complicated past with Sabrina Carpenter and 'love triangle' drama
As Olivia Rodrigo prepares for her Glastonbury 2025 Pyramid Stage headline slot, the 22-year-old is the second youngest starlet to headline the festival, behind Billie Eilish, who was 20 when she topped the bill in 2022. Despite her young age, she's already had her share of celebrity beef, with former High School Musical co-star Sabrina Carpenter.
Although they've moved past their drama and put their differences behind them, it's taken them a few years to get on friendly terms. After they were seen hugging and chatting at the 2025 Grammy Awards, fans are glad they've worked through the Joshua Bassett love triangle that began their long-running feud.
So what happened? We look at the spat that kicked off the Glasto headliner's tension with 26-year-old Sabrina.
Olivia Rodrigo lyrical dig at Sabrina Carpenter sparks love triangle rumoursDisney Channel Bizaardvark star Olivia Rodrigo made headlines in January 2021 with her debut single, Driver's License. The track sparked rumours that she had referenced alleged drama between herself, High School Musical star Bassett and Girl Meets World actress Sabrina.
Although the alleged drama has never been implicitly addressed by the trio, it was claimed in 2020 that Olivia and Joshua were an item, however it appeared Joshua quickly moved on to the Espresso songstress Sabrina as he was spotted with her at a protest just a few weeks later.
Eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that Rodrigo had changed the lyrics from her 2020 teaser track to potentially include a reference to Sabrina, replacing the word "brunette" with "blonde". The lyrics read: "And you’re probably with that blonde girl / Who always made me doubt / She’s so much older than me / She’s everything I’m insecure about."
Rodrigo's song came out six months later than Bassett's Anyone Else, which was released in July 2020. Joshua and Olivia were rumoured to be an item between 2019 and 2020 - although they never confirmed their romance officially.
He appeared to have written the song about Sabrina, with Bassett singing: “How am I supposed to think about anything else? / How am I to go on keeping this to myself? / I am done pretending I want anyone else / Anyone else, anyone else."
He later told Euphoria: “Basically the song is about the ‘uh-oh’ moment when you realize you’re maybe falling a bit too hard for somebody and you probably shouldn’t be. And you don’t know what to do about it. The main lyric ‘how I’m supposed to think about anyone else // how am I to go on keeping this to myself // I’m done pretending I’d want anyone else,’ I think that perfectly conveys that feeling of – you know.
"Everyone’s known that feeling when they fall for someone that’s either taken or know they can’t be with, and then you ask yourself what you’re supposed to do next because you can’t stop thinking about them. When I personally had that, my friend was like, I’m sure you’ll find someone else, and I was like I don’t want anybody else, that’s not the point – I want them!"
So when Driver's Licence came six months later, fans were certain it was a reaction to her ex's. Rodrigo's lyrics read: "I just can’t imagine how you could be so OK now that I’m gone / Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me."
Sabrina Carpenter hits backCue 'the other woman', Sabrina, with her cryptic lyrical response to the whole thing, in which she references Olivia's "blonde" allusion. Sabrina, who was trolled with 'homewrecker' jibes, sings in the first verse of Skin, which was also released in January 2021: "Maybe we could’ve been friends / If I met you in another life."
She continues: "Maybe then we could pretend / There’s no gravity in the words we write / Maybe you didn’t mean it / Maybe blonde was the only rhyme." Sabrina also appears to address the online bullying in Because I liked a Boy.
Released in July 2022, she's since denied that it was a comment on cyber-bullying, although she uses the word 'homewrecker' and sings: "I got death threats filling up semi-trucks." She continues: "I'm the hot topic on your tongue / I'm a rebound gettin' 'round / Stealin' from the young / Tell me who I am / Guess I don't have a choice / All I because I liked a boy."
She added: "Fell so deeply into it / It was all so innocent / Dating boys with exes / No, I wouldn't recommend it."
Moving onHowever, none of the three singers has ever confirmed the true meaning behind their lyrics. Speaking on The Late Late Show With James Corden in February 2021, Sabrina dismissed rumours that she was directing her song Skin towards the situation.
She told the chat show host: "The reoccurring theme was I was allowing people to get under my skin. I wrote from that place of knowing that there was so many different experiences that will continue to happen to me in my life where I kind of have to remind myself that people can only get to you if you allow them to and you give them that access to.”
She continued: “People will make a narrative about something always. I think this was a really interesting song for people to kind of misinterpret and make it into something that it wasn’t really supposed to be in the first place. But I’ve just been enjoying making music.”
Thankfully, all three of them seem to have moved on with their lives. As they have grown older, they no longer appear to be subjecting fans to cryptic song lyrics about their love-life drama.
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