Amidst all the chaos in 2020/2021, two iconic Gen-Z childhood actors/singers, Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, were put under fire by rumors of their bad blood over shared “ex-boyfriend” Joshua Bassett. This all started with a Halloween TikTok posted by Bassett and Carpenter, dressed in what seemed to be a couples costume of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. This occurred just after rumors surfaced of an ended romance between Bassett and Rodrigo.

Rodrigo and Bassett played two love interests on the show High School Musical the Musical the Series: Nini and Ricky. Their on-screen romance had fans speculating there was more going on, but the pair confirmed nothing. In later seasons, the public had agreed upon the fact the actors had broken up. However, in an interview with Jimmy Fallon in late 2023, Olivia spoke about the fact she had accidentally followed her ex (not naming him) on Instagram. It was later brought up that while she currently didn’t follow anyone, for a good couple of days she was only following Joshua Bassett. This confirmed that the two had dated.⁴ There currently appears to be no bad blood between the two, as they've been seen acting friendly on a red carpet for HSMTMTS.

The aforementioned video posted by Carpenter and Bassett was around the same time that Olivia’s song “Drivers License,” assumed to be about Josh, had dropped. People immediately jumped and created a huge sphere of drama and hatred around the two girls, even though they had never mentioned one another specifically. It was most apparent in the lines:

“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…”³

These lyrics created a media frenzy, with people jumping between comment sections and spreading their opinions on the controversy everywhere they could. The media was completely split on sides like “Team Olivia,” or “Team Sabrina” (which I think is ridiculous but you’ll hear my opinion later). It was reasonable to guess that these lyrics were about Carpenter due to the fact she’s blonde and four years Olivia’s senior, but the divide was unnecessary.

What fans assumed to be Sabrina’s “clap-backs” were in her songs “because i liked a boy,” and “Skin.” While Sabrina has stated “Skin” references many people and different situations over all, many believe “because i liked a boy,” to be about the love triangle between her, Josh, and Olivia. Here are some lyrics from each song that really made people think these were about Olivia:

because i liked a boy:
“Now I'm a homewrecker, I'm a sl*t
I got death threats filling up semi-trucks
Tell me who I am, guess I don't have a choice
All because I liked
I'm a 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 because I liked a boy”²

Skin:
“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”
…
“And I'm not asking you to let it go
But you been telling your side
So I'll be telling mine, oh”¹

These lyrics have definitely pushed the sense of drama in the media. I don’t have much more to say about these, but I do have my two cents to put in.

I think that this “drama” was definitely pushed by the media and escalated to levels that were unneeded by fans. As a society, we should have let them live their lives. The fact that this is so common, to put women against each other and trying to create a fight, is so horrible. We need to decrease the scrutiny, especially as these two didn't do anything wrong and were so young. So, I truly believe after the songs were put out and all was said and done, neither of them really cared. Joshua has also stated his opinion on the matter through his songs, but it wasn’t thought to put the common aspect, the man, in a place of fault. I don’t believe any of the three were at fault, but it’s infuriating that the media only wants to create drama between successful women.