Sabrina Carpenter has addressed the drama surrounding her new song, saying it isn’t supposed to be a diss track aimed at Olivia Rodrigo, as many fans have interpreted it to be.
On Friday, Carpenter released her new song Skin. In the first verse, she sings: “Maybe we could’ve been friends / If I met you in another life / 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 / The only rhyme.”
The chorus includes the lyrics: “You can try / To get under my under my under my skin / While he’s on mine.”
Listeners immediately made the connection to Rodrigo’s smash hit driver’s license, a sombre tune mourning a past relationship.
Drivers license is believed to be about Rodrigo’s ex-boyfriend and former High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star Joshua Bassett and his new girlfriend.
Rodrigo and Bassett apparently dated last year, but they never publicly confirmed they were an item. And then in June, Bassett was linked to Carpenter after they were spotted in public together.
Carpenter and Bassett haven’t publicly confirmed their relationship status, but they did share videos on TikTok wearing matching Halloween costumes in October. Fans joined the dots.
In drivers license, Rodrigo sings: “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 is 17 years old and Carpenter is 21. In a teaser track for drivers license from last July, Rodrigo originally wrote: “And you’re probably with that brunette girl,” suggesting to fans that she switched the lyrics because she had someone in mind.
It all caused quite the shitshow online, with people taking sides and throwing a lot of words around.
In an Instagram post shared on Monday afternoon, Carpenter said she didn’t want this “to become an endless cycle.” And while she didn’t explicitly name Rodrigo or drivers license, it’s fairly obvious who she’s talking about.
“I wasn’t bothered by a few lines in a (magnificent) song and wrote a diss track about it,” she said.
“I was at a tipping point in my life for countless reasons. So I was inspired to do what I usually do to cope, write something that I wish I could have told myself in the past.”
Carpenter said Skin “isn’t calling out one single person.”
“Some lines address a specific situation, while other lines address plenty of other experiences I’ve had this past year.
“It also shows that many things have actually gotten under my skin and I’m still learning to not give other people so much power over my feelings. I know a lot of you struggle with the same thing.”
Carpenter concluded: “I don’t want this to become an endless cycle so please don’t take this as an opportunity to send more hate anyone’s way.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKc5kIlAEwZ/
You can stream both songs wherever you find your music.
