All the DetailsSabrina Carpenter, Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo Rumored Love Triangle Drama: Complete Breakdown

Joshua’s Song

In July 2020, the actor released the song “Anyone Else.” In an interview with Broadway World at the time, he explained it “came about after the sudden realization that I was hopelessly falling in love with a close friend … who was in a relationship with someone else.”

Olivia’s TikTok

A month after “Anyone Else” hit streaming services, the actress shared a TikTok video of her listening to the song “All I Want” from HSMTMTS alongside the caption, “And that’s on failed relationships.”

Fans were convinced that the song and TikTok video could be related to the rumored relationship and breakup between Olivia and Joshua during 2020, which was never confirmed between the two.

The Sabrina of It All

Sabrina’s involvement came after Halloween 2020 when she and Joshua shared a series of TikTok videos dressed up as Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Romance rumors between the two started swirling with fans wondering what happened between Joshua and Olivia.

‘Drivers License’ Release

When Olivia dropped her debut single, she appeared to leave a few hints about her past relationship (earning comparisons to Taylor Swift). Originally, when she teased the track on Instagram, the lyrics referenced a “brunette” girl but when the song was released, brunette was changed to “blonde.” Fans took this as a direct reference to Sabrina.

Celebs React

All of Olivia’s HSMTMTS costars reacted to the song on social media. At first, fans noticed that Joshua didn’t share anything about “Drivers License” on social media, but Sabrina’s ex-boyfriend Griffin Gluck uploaded a photo of himself on Instagram Stories with the song playing and captioned it, “Bop.” This further added to speculation about the song’s meaning.

Joshua’s Message

Eventually, Joshua congratulated Olivia on “Drivers License” via Instagram Stories, calling it a “great song.”

‘Lie Lie Lie’

Days after “Drivers License” was released, Joshua released his own single, “Lie Lie Lie.” In an Instagram Stories post, the actor shared the song’s meaning with fans. “I wrote ‘Lie, Lie, Lie’ after I found out a friend had been lying about me behind my back for a long time,” he explained. “It always sucks to hear that someone you thought you could trust would throw you under the bus when it benefits them. It happens to all of us, and I think all you can do is seek out people that build you up rather than tear you down.”

“I thought it was funny, people sort of jumping to conclusions on who they think the song is about. And, you know, them thinking that I sort of wrote and released it within a week,” he told Genius while breaking down the song’s lyrics for a YouTube video in February 2021. “It’s kind of ridiculous. I mean, there’s literally proof on my Instagram that I wrote it two and a half years ago. And nobody will ever know who the song is about.”

He added, “But it is funny to sort of see the speculation on who people think it’s about. I’ve done my best to sort of make it clear that it’s not about anyone in particular that they might think it is. But you know, people are gonna think what they’re gonna think.”

The Song’s Success

Less than one week after the song was released, Olivia spoke with Zane Lowe on Apple Music about the song’s success, calling it “quite insane.”

“I wrote the bulk of the song literally crying in my living room, and I think that it definitely has that feel to it. I was driving around my neighborhood, actually listening to really sad songs and crying in the car, and I got home and I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll write a song about this, crying in the car.’ So, I just sat down at my piano and plucked out some chords that I liked and it kind of happened that way,” she said about the song’s origin. “But it was really, really natural and organic. Very much me writing in the depth of my emotion. I think that’s really cool.”

Olivia Addresses the Song’s Meaning

When chatting with Billboard following the song’s release, Olivia discussed the track’s meaning.

“I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” she explained. “It’s resonating with people because of how emotional it is, and I think everything else is not important.”

The actress added, “To see it do really well — to have this really painful moment in my life, and turn it into something beautiful that can maybe help people through a tough time that they’re having, like I was having a tough time — it’s just so empowering.”

‘Skin’

Exactly two weeks after the “Drivers License” release, Sabrina hit back with her own song called “Skin” and appeared to address all the drama. “You can try / To get under my, under my, under my skin / While hе’s on mine,” she sings in the chorus. At the end of the song, the Disney Channel alum hopes that she and, who fans are convinced is Olivia, can be friends one day.

Some eagle-eyed fans on TikTok also pointed out that the lyrics from her song may have also come from her show Girl Meets World.

Sabrina’s Response

She responded to the rumors with an Instagram post in January. “I wasn’t bothered by a few lines in a (magnificent) song and wrote a diss track about it,” Sabrina wrote. “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 … The song 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.”

She continued, “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.”

Sabrina’s ‘Blonde’ Explanation

While chatting with Radio.com for a February 2021 interview, she explained the use of “blonde” in her song “Skin.”

“At the end of the day, the more I dance around the subject, the less people kind of understand where I’m coming from. Not that the goal is to get them to understand, ‘cause I don’t think at the end of the day you’re ever going to accomplish that,” she said. “But the more honest I could be in that moment, and that fact is, exactly what I said, it wasn’t a call out to one person.”

She continued, “Plenty of other things have happened in this past year alone in my life that I was like … I need to compile these thoughts into one place, into one message that I can kind of come full circle with and constantly remind myself that people can only get to you if you allow them to.”

The ‘SNL’ Skit

In February 2021, fans were shook when Olivia’s “Drivers License” was featured in an SNL skit. In fact, the sketch premiered on the singer’s 18th birthday and she reacted via social media. “‘DRIVERS LICENSE’ SNL SKETCH IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER I’M SHAKING,” she wrote on Twitter.

Joshua also responded to the skit during an interview with Billboard. “They poke fun at everyone and everything. That’s the point of the show. I thought it was hilarious,” he said. “You have to roll with it and not take things too seriously.”

Sabrina Further Talks ‘Skin’

During an appearance on the Zach Sang Show in February 2021, Sabrina also addressed speculation around the song’s meaning and explained, “It’s not for me to say who is or it isn’t about, ’cause it’s not my story. That’s not my narrative.”

She added, “I think I came at it from a very honest place of saying like, I don’t think anyone meant any hard feelings, and I don’t think that that’s what it is about. We’re all just telling our truth and we’re all just trying to feel okay within our own situations, which are so unique because we’re all experiencing life from completely different perspectives at different points in our life, with different people surrounding us.”

Joshua Sets the Record Straight

Following his EP release in March 2021, Joshua fielded questions about the drama surrounding “Drivers License,” and said, “There’s no response to be made. All I will say is, you know, that’s her story to tell. Whatever the song is to her is her thing to tell, so I’ll let her do that,” he told ET Canada. “But I would say I hope people don’t forget the value that her and Sabrina bring to the world outside of the drama. And I hope people will look at the depth of who they are instead of just the surface-level gossip.”

Addressing the Rumors

“People don’t know anything they’re talking about,” Joshua told GQ in June 2021, noting that he’s been “biting my tongue, in a lot of ways, but the reality is it’s kind of like a lost cause trying to talk about any of that stuff, and I refuse to feed into any of the bulls–t, so I just don’t.”

Olivia Reflects on the Drama

“Oh, my gosh, that was the craziest time of my life,” the songstress told Variety in August 2021 of the days following the “Drivers License” release. “I put it out not knowing that it would get that reaction, so it was really strange [when] it did. I just remember [everyone being] so weird and speculative about stuff they had no idea about.”

She added, “I don’t really subscribe to hating other women because of boys. I think that’s so stupid, and I really resent that narrative that was being tossed around.”

Sabrina’s Reflection

“That was a song which, unfortunately, was what I was going through, at a time in my life where I couldn’t ignore it,” she told Billboard in October 2021 of the “Skin” release. “When I wrote the song, I don’t know if I anticipated it being heard — which is probably why it came from a much more truthful place.”

Sabrina continued, “So yeah, the Internet has definitely f–ked some s–t up. It’s such a waste of time [to explain the meaning], because you’ll never know the truth. That’s part of the fun of it, I guess. But at the same time, there are real people. I will say, that’s the hardest thing — trying to be truthful to yourself, make art that feels real and exciting, but then also knowing that [you’re writing] about humans going through what we’re all going through on a daily basis.”

Joshua’s Songs

In December 2021, Joshua released three songs — “Crisis / Secret / Set Me Free” — which fans have speculated are about the entire situation. He told GQ in an interview at the time, “I have a right to stand up for myself.”

“People don’t realize how long ago that was,” Joshua explained, appearing to talk about the Olivia situation. “It’s not as recent as it seems. I’m a completely different person now. … I’m not here to expose people. It was eating me alive, and I couldn’t keep it in anymore.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, he claimed, “[Rodrigo] hasn’t spoken to me since ‘Drivers License’ came out.”

Returning as Ricky

Joshua revealed on the Zach Sang Show in November 2021 that he’s “very excited” to return to the HSMTMTS set.

“I think we have a really, really awesome season lined up, and I think, you know, it’s gonna be truly a blast,” the signer shared. “I think we have a lot of really great episodes lined up, and it’s gonna be, I think, the most fun one yet, in terms of writing and moral and all that stuff. I’m really excited.”

Discussing the Drama

“There was so much drama that was around ‘Drivers License’ and so much hate, I thought if I put out [‘Déjà Vu’] that I was also playing into this drama, love triangle, let’s hate on other girls thing,” Olivia said in her Driving Home 2 U film when addressing the drama. “I just did not want to do that. And that was, again, [I] never write any of my songs from that point of view ‘cause that’s not something that I feel.”

The Met Gala Interaction

Olivia and Sabrina appeared to squash any rumored drama between them while at the Met Gala in May 2022. A photo of them chatting went viral on Twitter after the event.

‘Because I Liked a Boy’

In July 2022, Sabrina released her fifth studio album Emails I Can’t Send, which featured the song “Because I Liked a Boy” that seemed to be about the Olivia and Joshua drama.

“The most difficult part about this album was that it started from a place where it was reflecting my life at the time,” she shared with Rolling Stone at the time. “Now, looking back on it, the last two or three years of my life, that song came from a really real place in my life, so it didn’t feel right to not kind of write that song.”

The ‘HSMTMTS’ Season 3 Premiere

Putting the drama behind them? Olivia and Joshua posed together at the HSMTMTS season 3 premiere.