Sabrina Carpenter Didn’t ‘Envision’ Releasing Perceived Olivia Rodrigo Diss Track ‘Skin’

In the Grammy-winner’s first-ever Vogue cover story, Carpenter briefly touched the alleged love triangle they found themselves in with fellow Disney star, Joshua Bassett. It all went down in January 2021 after Rodrigo released her hit “Driver’s License,” in which she sings to an unnamed man many believed to Bassett.

“You’re probably with that blonde girl,” and, “She’s everything I’m insecure about,” Rodrigo sings on the track. While neither she or Carpenter ever confirmed who Olivia was referring to, Carpenter’s single “Skin” — released after Rodrigo’s song — fueled the feud’s flames with lyrics including, “Maybe we could’ve been friends,” and “Maybe blonde was the only rhyme.”

While the single was admittedly rushed into release, Carpenter told Vogue she wrote it “not envisioning it coming out,” simply calling the moment a “bit of a whirlwind.”

Despite fan and Reddit threads spawned from the pair’s public tête-à-tête, the pop stars appear to be on good terms these days. Just days ago, they were seen chatting it up at the Grammys, with cameras catching them talking to each other, then hugging as Taylor Swift walked past them during the broadcast.

Swift, a major player in both their careers — for different reasons — helped introduce Carpenter to her swaths of fans over the course of her Eras Tour, bringing the “Espresso” singer along for 25 dates across Latin America, Asia and Australia, with the pair even duetting a handful of times for Swift’s excited audiences abroad.

It served as a pivotal moment for Carpenter, who says Swift’s tour served as inspiration for her own.

“Her stadiums make my shows look like clubs,” Carpenter quips before giving Swift her flowers. “Watching her keep their attention as if she’s playing in their living room, it was like — and I told her this — ‘Your tour enabled me to do mine.'”

Even with the influence of “Fortnight” and the backing of her beloved Swifties, Carpenter developed a sound and a persona that’s all her own, telling the outlet that Short ‘n Sweet — the aptly named title of her tour and Grammy-winning album is very much her. From the tongue-in-cheek “Nonsense” outros to the “Juno” positions she delighted fans with on tour and the double meanings found in many of her lighthearted lyrics.

“Short n’ Sweet is absolutely me,” Carpenter says. “There’s no, like, alter ego. But it’s definitely a more emphasized version of me.”

She continued, “It’s interesting because I’m able to dress in this way where you would kind of expect to hear like a voice from the ’60s. But then, when I’m speaking to the audience, I’m just myself.”

Up next for the 25-year-old singer? Carpenter is headed to abroad for European leg of her tour, which kicks off in March, where she’ll have to conjure up a few more “Juno” positions for the fans eager to see her across the pond.

“Bless me for Europe,” she jokes. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I just try to have fun in the moment. That’s where most of those ideas come from.”

Read the full profile here.