For months, I’ve been trying to put my finger on why Sabrina Carpenter looks and feels sort of familiar in the celebrity world. I think I’ve got it – looks-wise, she’s really reminiscent of a young Hayden Panetierre. Gossip-wise, Sabrina is following an Ariana Grande path. Does that make sense? It makes sense to me. Anyway, it is arguably the “summer of Sabrina.” I would argue that Kendrick Lamar’s Drake-diss tracks were much more important to the summer music scene, but sure, Sabrina’s two singles have been everywhere in recent months. I prefer “Espresso,” which is super-catchy. “Please Please Please” annoys the crap out of me. So, Sabrina covers the latest issue of Variety and they did a pretty decent profile of her, introducing her to people (like me) who really don’t know much about her. Some highlights:

Her child-actor years: “I got an agent — the same one I have now — and he was very realistic. He said, ‘We’ll send you out for things — no promise that they’re even going to see your tape.’ But then, not to brag, I booked one of the first things I ever went for”: an episode of “Law & Order” in which Carpenter played a victim of abuse by a sex-trafficking ring — at the ripe old age of 11. “It was such a sad plotline. I was just fascinated by all of it. I had spent so much time with adults that I just knew how to talk to them. Now all my friends are my age, but when I was younger, I was always working with adults. I just always knew what to say and how to act.”

Her early albums, made when she was a kid: “For the people who love those early records and listen to them, I love you for that. But I personally feel a sense of separation from them, largely due to the shift in who I am as a person and as an artist, pre-pandemic and post-pandemic.”

The love triangle: On it, Carpenter references the narrative around a Gen-Z love triangle allegedly involving her and fellow Disney stars Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo. Although the full story has never been revealed, all three singers have released songs inspired by the situation — including Rodrigo’s 2021 breakthrough hit, “Drivers License” — and the ensuing scrutiny from fans and the media. For her part, Carpenter sings in “Because I Liked a Boy,” “Now I’m a homewrecker, I’m a slut / I got death threats fillin’ up semi trucks.” (She declines to discuss the situation further.)

Her friendship with Taylor Swift & getting permission to do a Skims campaign: “Taylor is a rock star! She’s just such a gangster with all of it. No matter what people are saying, everything that I’ve ever seen her tackle, she’s done so with grace. The posts about me having to ‘ask for her permission’ — no. She’s one of my best, best friends, and we grab dinner or text and catch up like you would with your best friend.” She nods to the mentorship she’s received from Swift and others as she grapples with her own rapidly rising fame. “It’s so cool for me to get a perspective on this whole process from her and the community of artists that I feel I’m close to — to get advice from them on stuff that you can’t just ask the internet. We’re always playing each other our [music], and whenever I start to think, ‘Maybe I’ll get on Twitter and say something about this,’ I’m always like, ‘Maybe I’ll write a song instead.’”

Dating Bary Keoghan, who stars in the “Please Please Please” video: “He loved the song. He’s obsessed with the lyrics, and I’m so grateful for that. I don’t want to sound biased, but I think he’s one of the best actors of this generation. So getting to see him on the screen with my song as the soundtrack made the video better and all the more special.”

Sabrina is a Taurus: “Barry’s a Libra, and so is my sister. They’re very different, but they have similarities. I tend to gravitate towards Leos as well… My dad’s a Capricorn, so maybe that’s not the direction for my future.”

[From Variety]

She’s 25 years old, in case you’re wondering. She comes across like so many former Disney actors – like she’s used to being the precocious kid in the room, the only kid surrounded by adults. I still say the Disney/child-actor system leads to a huge amount of dysfunction in adulthood, but I will also admit that it seems to be getting better? Like, Disney is no longer so strict with their image-maintenance of child stars and it’s easier for people like Sabrina and Olivia Rodrigo to just transition into adult stardom or adult music careers.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.