This Wild Love Triangle: Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo Fight Over Joshua Bassett
Picture: Kevin Mazur/2020 MTV Movie & TV Awards/Getty Images, Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty Images
The modern day Miley Cyrus vs. Selena Gomez over Nick Jonas is HERE! I gotta admit, I think this new drama is just a teeny bit more interesting than Niley vs. Nelena. These new kids are serving! If you don’t know who these new people are, I got you covered. I’m going to explain everything that’s happening as well as give you my insight on what’s going on.
Background Info
Sabrina Carpenter (age 20), Olivia Rodrigo (age 17), and Joshua Bassett (age 20) are all Disney stars. Sabrina had her big break on Disney Channel when she was the lead star playing Maya Hart on Girl Meets World.
Both Olivia and Joshua are on the Disney+ show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Olivia plays Nini Salazar-Roberts and Joshua plays Ricky Bowen.
I haven’t watched the show, but I’m assuming they’re love interests.
Olivia was previously on Bizaardvark which was a comedy show on Disney Channel.
Basically what happened is that Olivia and Joshua presumably had some sort of relationship, but Joshua wasn’t interested in her and dipped to go date Sabrina.
Olivia then dropped her debut single Driver’s License on January 8, 2021, and it was a worldwide streaming smash and debuted #1 everywhere. It went viral on TikTok and took over social media when fans quickly connected who the lyrics were about.
Taylor Swift and her fanbase quickly supported the hell out of Olivia because she’s a self-proclaimed Swiftie.
Ah… Swifties… somewhat of a cult. Sweet people. The first time I heard of Olivia was because of Taylor and I was like “is this an industry plant?”
Back to the love triangle.
The thing is… Olivia and Joshua’s relationship was never confirmed. When asked about who the lyrics were about, Olivia said that the backstory is the “least important part” of the track. She told Billboard that “It's resonating with people because of how emotional it is, and I think everything else is not important.”
Nice way to fuel the people’s interest, Olivia.
However, they were seemingly very close and the lyrics are a little too specific.
What Happened
The story started back in the summer of 2020 where Olivia posted the following TikTok where she says that she wrote the song “All I Want” which was a promotional single for the show that she’s on with Joshua. She then captions it saying “and that’s on failed relationships.”
August 16, 2020:
@livbedumb and that’s on failed relationships
♬ All I Want by Olivia Rodrigo - Alyssa Elness 🦋
They obviously had a thing because the last person that Olivia dated before Joshua was her costar from Bizaardvark, Ethan Wacker.
Joshua was one of the first people to hear All I Want and even convinced her to release it despite her thinking that it was terrible and required more work.
A day before that TikTok was posted on August 15, 2020, Sabrina and Joshua were spotted together grabbing lunch:
Photos: BACKGRID USA
The same day that she posted that TikTok, she posted the following picture on Instagram where she’s wearing a shirt that says “DUMP HIM.”
Olivia was posting all this because a day before, it looked like Sabrina and Joshua were on a date when they were photographed on August 15, 2020:
Javiles/Bruce / BACKGRID
So… the timeline overlaps.
Also in November 2020, Joshua posted this TikTok of him and Sabrina:
@joshuatbassett dream a dream u little bleep ##sharkboyandlavagirl @sabrinacarpenter
♬ Follow me plz - Ma’kaila Janai
Driver’s License Lyric Analysis
Y’all… I’m about to go in on these lyrics.
Olivia has previously said that Joshua helped her get her driver’s license because she was practicing driving in his car before. She said that “we celebrated and we went to In-N-Out, and I couldn’t drive actually. I was 16, but I didn’t have my permit, And so, he took me in his car, and we drove around the In-N-Out parking lot, and that was my first time driving.”
The blonde girl is Sabrina who is 4 years older than Olivia.
Getty Images
The gag is… the lyric wasn’t always “blonde girl.” It was actually “brunette girl” and you can hear Olivia sing it in this Instagram video that was posted on July 23, 2020:
So it’s interesting how the lyric was changed….
We’ll discuss this later in the post, but keep this in mind. Also, it’s interesting how she sings “who always made me doubt,” which insinuates an overlap between his relationship with Olivia and his relationship with Sabrina. It’s like… was there cheating going on?
[Chorus]
And I know we weren't perfect
But I've never felt this way for no one
And I just can't imagine
How you could be so okay now that I'm gone
Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me
'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street
It’s rumored that Joshua’s song, Anyone Else was written about Olivia. He said that he wrote this song during season 1 of their HSM remake show or whatever it is, and stated that it’s about “hopelessly falling in love with a close friend… Who was in a relationship.”
And like I pointed out already… Olivia was dating Ethan Wacker.
And when the song first came out, people were questioning if it was about Ethan, but he quickly said it wasn’t about him on TikTok:
He had no business…
One thing I want to point out about Anyone Else was that Sabrina was rumored to be in the music video:
However, the song was written in 2019 and at the time of release, it was clear that he didn’t have a thing with Olivia.
On an Instagram live, Olivia said that her co-star Madison Hu was there for her when she was talking to her about her relationship problems.
Damn… Olivia really made sure to incorporate every little detail in the lyrics.
In the bridge, she also sings “I still see your face in the white cars, front yards” and Joshua is known to have a white car.
The only thing we are missing in this song is Joshua’s social security number.
When the song first came out, Joshua supported her and posted it on his IG story:
She just didn’t repost it lol
Another person that showed support for the song was Sabrina’s ex-boyfriend, Griffin Gluck:
This brings us to Joshua’s side of the story in his single, “Lie Lie Lie.” By the way, when Olivia first announced Driver’s License, within the hour, Joshua announced his song:
The majority of their co-stars showed their support for Olivia.
As some of you guys pointed out, Joshua’s song was recorded years ago, but only released and announced after Olivia’s. A strategic release if you will.
Lie Lie Lie Lyric Analysis
[Verse 1]
So they told me all the things that you said
Runnin' all over my name
And you're acting, oh, so innocent
Like I'm the only one to blame
[Refrain]
You've been lying to yourself
Lie to everyone else
Only thinking about yourself
Darling what the hell
The lyrics are self explanatory. He’s seemingly responding back to Olivia by telling her you’re lying to yourself and everyone and acting innocent as if he was the only one that was wrong in their little fling.
[Chorus]
I know what you say about me
I hope that it makes you happy
You can't seem to get me off your mind (Get me off your mind)
I know you're lying through your teeth
You told them the lies that you told me
I've had enough of it this time (Had enough this time)
[Refrain]
So you can lie, lie, lie, lie, lie
Go ahead and try, try, try, try, try
It won't work this time, time, time, time, time
Kiss your ass goodbye, bye, bye, bye, bye
Kiss your ass goodbye
[Verse 2]
So you're telling them it's all my fault
You're the victim this time
And you wanna make it seem like it's your call
You're acting like everything's fine
Basically, he’s insinuating that she’s pretending to be the victim and he’s not gonna give her the time of day because of all the lies.
His song wasn’t really a major player in this drama because the lyrics are kind of basic and general. Like I said, it was recorded years ago, but only released now to suggest a RESPONSE to Olivia. You know, it’s what they want out in the general public.
A song that can compete with Driver’s License is….. Sabrina's new song which came out today and it’s called Skin.
Skin Lyric Analysis
Sabrina is insinuating that her and Olivia could have been friends in “another life” without the circumstances that they’re currently under.
Saying "Maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme” is a direct response to Oliva’s lyric, “that blonde girl.” And remember what I pointed out about the lyric changing from “burnette” to “blonde.”
But honestly, Sabrina seems like she’s coming for blood here despite fans trying to paint her as being nice and sweet to Olivia.
Girlies… no matter how much you wanna portray women empowerment in irrelevant situations when there’s a love triangle, it’s war behind the scenes, honey. As the saying goes, it’s all fair in love and war.
[Pre-Chorus]
Want my heart to be breakin', breakin', no
I'm happy and you hate it, hate it, oh
And I'm not asking you to let it go
But you been tellin' your side
So I'll be tellin' mine, oh
[Chorus]
You can try
To get under my, under my, under my skin
While hе's on mine
Yeah, all on my, all on my, all on my skin
I wish you knew that еven you
Can't get under my skin if I don't let you in
… oh my god
She had no business saying that girl you can’t get under MY SKIN WHILE HE’S ON MINE.
Kind of iconic if you will.
Photo credit: Sarah Carpenter
Sabrina is basically saying that your version of the truth isn’t the only truth and putting her in the spotlight doesn’t make any difference to her as she’s been in it for a long time now.
Ever since Olivia’s song came out, Sabrina was getting a lot of hate because it was painted as if she’s the reason for Olivia’s pain and whatnot.
[Pre-Chorus]
Want my heart to be breakin', breakin', no
I'm happy and you hate it, hate it, oh
And I'm not asking you to let it go
But you been tellin' your side
So I'll be tellin' mine (Mine, oh)
[Bridge]
I just hope that one day
We both can laugh about it
When it's not in our face
Won't have to dance around it
Don't drive yourself insane
It won't always be this way
“Don’t drive yourself insane” …. biiiitchhhhhhh.
I’m seeing this as a sassy clapback by Sabrina saying you know say your peace and I’ll say mine… hopefully we can laugh about it later… but DON’T DRIVE YOURSELF INSANE BOO.
By the way, Joshua showed his support for Sabrina’s single:
2 hours after his post, Olivia posted herself singing to “Ready For It” by her queen Taylor Swift so some fans thought it’d be a dig at them…
📹 IG | @Olivia_Rodrigo jammin’ to ‘...Ready For It?’ via Instagram story pic.twitter.com/BpM9IWZC6R
— Taylor Swift News (@tswiftnzmedia2) January 22, 2021
And we all know what Taylor’s “Reputation” era stands for.
So what’s going on?
Now that we have everything explained and organized, let’s discuss.
Is it a PR?
The way we define a “PR” on this blog is that it’s a public relationship that is fake. Nothing that’s going on is fake right now in terms of the relationships. Olivia and Joshua had a thing and by the looks of it, so do Joshua and Sabrina. But that doesn’t mean they ain’t capitalizing.
Driver’s License wasn’t expected to be a big smash hit. The label was shocked by how it performed and the general public’s reaction. Through that, they utilized it to build their star. What that means is this wasn’t planned… it organically took off.
The releases that came afterward is definitely a way of capitalizing off of it. This drama is literally FREE EXPOSURE. You’d be stupid not to capitalize on it.
Therefore with Joshua releasing Lie Lie Lie, it was a smart move on his part. Same with Sabrina. Joshua’s song seems to have been written previously but dropped ironically after Olivia’s.
It doesn’t mean that the actual drama isn’t REAL, but you have to capitalize off what is real.
And their labels? Oh god… they are running with this. Moving forward, it seems like they will plant whatever story they can to keep this drama rolling. Apparently, Joshua and Sabrina have an upcoming collab.
It’s like a reality TV show. You’re capitalizing based on what you have.
From what I know, I heard that Joshua didn’t want to have a whole thing with Olivia because she was underage. I already said this several times in the comment section too.
Sabrina and Joshua were annoyed with how fast everyone turned on them from a one-sided narrative so they wanted to get their side up ASAP.
Sabrina and Johsua spotted in LA on August 24, 2020.
I love all three songs that were released. I think Driver’s License and Skin are the superior ones, but something is a little off about… Olivia.
The person you stan often reflects who you are (to a degree.. don’t take this that seriously) and if she’s taking the cliche Taylor Swift route… that’s a red flag. Taylor has been known in the past to literally be a woman hater. I know she’s all about women empowerment now but sis… you ain’t erasing the past. She used to sub girls in her songs by calling them sluts and whatnot.
I see a lot of Taylor in Olivia and not so much the good part. I came to this conclusion after I saw this song on my timeline:
Hold on... Olivia can be shady and diss Sabrina in a song but Sabrina can’t do the same to her? pic.twitter.com/84o1pEHqpF
— m | fan account (@goodgirlffaith) January 22, 2021
The song is called “Apocalyptic Crush” and it basically contains lyrics saying HAHA SIS YOU THINK YOU’RE PRETTY? WELL YOU’RE FCKING NOT AND HE WOULD ONLY LIKE YOU IF YOU WERE THE LAST PERSON ON EARTH HOE!!!
OKay it wasn’t that dramatic, but still.
I mean take a look at the lyrics yourself:
Like girl.. what on Earth?
Olivia reminds me of those girls in high school that get so obsessed with a guy despite the guy showing that they’re not interested in them to the point where they see red and they’re out for revenge… aka Taylor Swift in 2010.
It’s like a little bit of Taylor Swift with a Selena Gomez swirl to it.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s she’s young and you know she’s telling her side of things, but the way she’s approaching it is definitely giving me pick-me vibes or I’m-gonna-hate-on-the-girl-before-I-hate-the-guy.
At the same time, I don’t see anything wrong with Driver’s License. Artists tell their own personal lives and they have the right to do so. However they milk it… well we’ll judge that later on. Obviously she’s young so she won’t take the most mature route.
I see Sabrina from a logical point of perspective while Olivia is from an emotional perspective.
To be honest with you, I’m intrigued by this drama. Like I’m genuinely interested and all in. And from the sh!t I’ve seen with celebrities, I’ve gotten easily bored, but this drama… yeah I’m here for it
It’s also a fresh of breath air for me than the usual coked out adults I talk about LMAO. I need this new generation to serve. I’m bored!
Anyway, let me know what you think about their drama and my insight. Comment down below your thoughts. What do you think is going to happen moving forward? You can comment anonymously so take advantage of that. I will be reading and replying back ;)
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