When it comes to her relationship status, Sabrina Carpenter thinks all commentary is stupid—or maybe it’s useless.
Six months after the “Manchild” singer and Barry Keoghan were reported to have broken up, she slyly alluded to her relationship status.
“Am I doing the single thing right now?” she rhetorically asked Rolling Stone in an interview published June 12. “I’m doing the 25-year-old thing right now, whatever that means.”
And while she wasn’t going to name drop any men with white jackets or thick accents, Carpenter, who turned 26 last month, did share her thoughts on how her relationships have played a role in her career.
“You’re like, ‘That didn’t happen then. That did happen then. You’re missing a few key details there,’” she explained of her reaction to online rumors. “People underestimate how tricky it is to navigate being a young woman, having relationships, and then having a bunch of strangers have opinions on them.”
Indeed, the Grammy winner—who described herself as “immune and numb” to comments on her relationship—went on to express pride in herself for how she has navigated the negative consequences of fame.
“Surely, all of these people that are commenting, if they had the same microscope on their personal lives, I don’t think they’d be as eloquently spoken as me,” she posited. “I know it’s a tale as old as time. It’s just unfortunate that it’s still a tale.”
Of course, her relationship with Keoghan—whom she dated for one year—is far from her first to make headlines. Back in 2021, Olivia Rodrigo’s breakout hit “driver’s license” seemed to allude to a love triangle between her, Sabrina and Joshua Bassett in lyrics that refer to a “blonde girl.”
Sabrina, for her part, subtly addressed the eyebrow-raising lyric in “Skin,” a song she released just weeks later where she sings, “Maybe blonde was the only rhyme.”
As for why she felt the need to respond? “I didn’t really intentionally do that,” she admitted to Rolling Stone. “What that era taught me was to just trust myself, and trust that everything is going to work out the way it’s supposed to, and trust that relationships are put into your life for a reason. You might not see that in the moment, but you see it later.”
Rest assured, Sabrina is no longer thinking about all that nonsense.
“I don’t think about it, ever,” she said of the Disney star love triangle. “I’ve tried being brunette, and it didn’t look good on me, so this is what it is.”
Keep reading for more of Sabrina’s clapbacks…
Not everyone is a fan of Sabrina Carpenter’s love for lace and provocative lyrics. In fact, music producer Pete Waterman labeled the “Nonsense” singer’s live shows as downright “offensive.”
“They’ve won all of their freedoms and their rights, women,” Waterman said in January 2025. “They fought for everything they’ve got, and now they’re throwing it away, is the way I would look at it.”
And in her response, the Girl Meets World alum did not hold back.
“My message has always been clear,” Sabrina said in an interview with The Sun on Sunday, “if you can’t handle a girl who is confident in her own sexuality, then don’t come to my shows.”
“Female artists have been shamed forever,” she continued. “In the noughties it was Rihanna, in the nineties it was Britney Spears, in the eighties it was Madonna—and now it’s me.”
To the critics calling Sabrina’s renowned “Juno” poses and raunchy lyrics “lazy,” Sabrina countered their “totally regressive” opinions.
“It’s essentially saying that female performers should not be able to embrace their sexuality in their lyrics, in the way we dress, in the way we perform,” the pop star explained to The Sun. “It’s like those who want to shame don’t make comments when I talk about self-care or body positivity or heartbreak, which are all normal things a 25-year-old goes through. They just want to talk about the sexual side of my performances.”
During Sabrina’s Short n’ Sweet Tour, critics on social media shared their suspicions that the “Espresso” singer was lip-syncing during her shows.
“Hate to say it,” one person wrote in an October 2024 TikTok video, “but 30 percent lip singing [sic] 30 percent backing track [and] 40 percent singing.”
The Disney alum, however, was quick to shoot down the claims.
“I sing live at every show 100 percent,” Sabrina declared in the comments. “Would you like to speak to my audio engineers?”
It doesn’t take many words for the Grammy nominee to silence her haters.
In June 2024, a keyboard warrior shared their disapproval of Sabrina’s hit single “Please Please Please.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone fumble a second single this hard,” the user wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “my goodness.”
But as soon as the tune reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, she posted side-by-side screenshots of the rankings alongside the comments with the caption, “ohhhh I’m a grateful grateful grateful girl.”
After receiving backlash for her iconic “Feather” music video filmed in the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—which she had received permission from the church to film in—Sabrina’s story differed from the one Msgr. Jamie J. Gigantiello told in his official statement.
“The parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property,” the parish’s then-pastor said in his November 2023 statement, “which includes a review of the scenes and script.”
But Sabrina refuted his claims with one simple sentence.
“We got approval in advance,” Sabrina quipped to Variety at the time, “and Jesus was a carpenter.”
While onstage at NYC’s Madison Square Garden in September 2024, Sabrina alluded to her “Feather” music video scandal having played a part in New York mayor Eric Adams’ federal investigation at the time. The pastor that approved Sabrina’s “Feather” music video—though he said he was “not aware” of its inappropriate content—was demoted, leading to “broader administrative review” of the parish.
In their review, the diocese told the New York Post that they may have found a connection between the Parish and Adams involving business dealings between the pastor and senior figures within Adams’ embattled administration. (The mayor was charged with bribery and wire fraud scheme in the ongoing case, to which he has pleaded not guilty.)
And to that, Sabrina said, “Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted or…”
