Two weeks ago, another singer named Olivia Rodrigo released her debut single, "Drivers License," which is a heartbreaking confession about Olivia losing her first love. The song instantly went viral, breaking countless streaming records and immediately skyrocketing to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Some minor drama emerged regarding one of Olivia's lyrics in this song about a "blonde girl." It was rumored the lyric was referenced Sabrina Carpenter, who is now dating Olivia's ex Joshua Bassett. "Drivers License" was very respectful to this "blonde girl," however, saying that the blonde girl made her insecure because she was so perfect. No confirmation was ever made who this lyric was referencing.
Today, Sabrina responded to this rumor by releasing a shocking diss track about Olivia titled "Skin." As a Sabrina fan, this really disappointed me. A diss track was not needed for such a brief, vague reference to a "blonde girl" in Olivia's song, and Sabrina comes off taunting and cruel.
In the first verse of "Skin," Sabrina very obviously references the rumors head-on by confirming the song is about Olivia, singing "maybe blonde was the only rhyme (the only rhyme)" (which doesn't make sense, as Olivia's song doesn't rhyme). She then begins to take shots at Olivia with the line "I'm happy and you hate it!" This line feels very much like a small child's response to someone being jealous, not a 21 year old woman.
Sabrina continues to misread the situation, singing "But you been tellin' your side, so I'll be tellin' mine!" Olivia does not take a "side" in "Drivers License." She is simply expressing her own heartbreak about a relationship she feels grief about. Sabrina's line may have been more meaningful here had she actually told her side, but instead, she goes on to taunt Olivia.
"You can try to get under my, under my, under my skin, while he's on mine. Yeah, all on my, all on my, all on my skin!" are the first lines of the chorus. Given Sabrina is responding to a girl going through grief of a lost lover, this response is completely inappropriate. It comes off as rubbing Olivia's loss in her face, and making the situation completely about herself. This is not "telling her side" as Sabrina says she is in the pre-chorus; this is cruelly attacking Olivia by boasting about how intimate her and Joshua are being together.
The remainder of the chorus is "I wish you knew that even you can't get under my skin if I don't let you." This is super ironic, because Sabrina comes off like a caged animal getting revenge, so it obviously is getting under her skin.
I won't go through the rest of the lyrics, as they're all pretty much the same, taking petty shots at Olivia, and shoving her and Joshua's intimacy in her face. I honestly know nothing about Olivia and didn't even listen to "Drivers License" prior to today, so I have no bias towards Olivia. It just feels like a super cruel thing of Sabrina to do when Olivia's going through a lot of pain. While there has certainly been work of Sabrina's I haven't loved in the past, I've never hated her work before like I hate this. I've always loved Sabrina for her authenticity, her quirkiness, and down-to-Earth, and this song goes against all of that. Sabrina not only comes off like a bully, but also seems like she's trying to capitalize off the little bit of drama around the song to get some quick fame, which is just gross.
Thus far, this is arguably the lowest point in Sabrina's career. I understand Sabrina has feelings too, but I believe she should really start taking her own advice in this song, "Maybe we could pretend, there's no gravity in the words we write." Olivia chose to write a song about driving past her lover's house, and Sabrina essentially chose to plow over Olivia's car with a steam tractor. Sabrina's allowed to have emotions, but to react fast like this and write such a cruel, scathing diss track in a week is a really poor, immature move on her part, and I don't think it will reflect very well on her career. She needed to just keep quiet or keep the dial on low, maybe even expressing her sympathy for Olivia but how she was hurt by Olivia too. Going from 0 to 60 in three seconds after a 17-year-old singer releases her debut album, and releasing a diss track on her was the worst response Sabrina could have had.
I truly hope Sabrina realizes how wrong doing this was, and how this has affected Olivia as well, because her personal life is now completely out in the open thanks to Sabrina's song. If this is the way she wants her public image to look: as an immature, short-tempered bully, then I don't plan to stick around for the ride.
Comments