It was a story of affection trysts uncovered via musical quarrels solely rivalled by the band Fleetwood Mac.
The world watched as Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter all responded to allegations of heartbreak and dishonest via track.
The musical love triangle took the world by storm and launched Rodrigo as a heavyweight on the pop scene.
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Olivia Rodrigo fell head over heels for her Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence co-star Joshua Bassett.
Nonetheless, when that relationship got here to an abrupt finish, Rodrigo channelled her heartache into song-writing, launching a profession that sparkled in each nook within the globe, and can see her land in Sydney for her first-ever Australian interview with Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo on Immediately on September 22.
ASK OLIVIA: Got a query for her? Submit it right here earlier than her Immediately present interview
Whereas the musicians by no means formally confirmed their romance, ever since Rodrigo dropped the hit Drivers Licence again in 2021, followers have been attempting to piece collectively the pair’s relationship and the way fellow Disney star Sabrina Carpenter match into the equation.
What occurred between Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo?
Younger Hollywood stars Joshua Bassett, 22, and Olivia Rodrigo, 20, met once they have been 18 and 16 respectively.
The pair met once they performed love pursuits within the Disney Plus sequence Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence. They portrayed on-again-off-again couple Ricky and Nini and their chemistry instantly led followers to take a position they have been relationship in actual life too, though they by no means confirmed or denied this.
They solely added extra gas to the rumours in March 2020 when Rodrigo shared a cute clip of herself singing about somebody with a “brown-eyed grin and messy hair”, which followers suspected was Bassett.
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Nonetheless, one month later they stopped liking one another’s social media posts and appeared to have break up after Bassett launched a track about misplaced love titled Widespread Sense.
The track is about second possibilities, with the actor singing, “Widespread sense says the woman’s not value my time/ However frequent sense ain’t frequent if you come to thoughts.”
It appears his plea for a second probability fell on deaf ears with Rodrigo sharing a TikTok video of herself listening to breakup tracks whereas musing over “failed relationships” in August 2020.
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Quickly Bassett was singing one other tune and elevating eyebrows when he was seen grabbing lunch with actress Sabrina Carpenter in LA.
For Halloween, the pair even couple-dressed, rocking Shark Boy and Lava Lady outfits.
In 2021, Bassett formally got here out as homosexual. The singer and actor described Harry Kinds as “sizzling” throughout an interview and later known as the clip his “coming-out video.”
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Bassett later formally addressed the interview on Instagram, writing, “My whole life folks have instructed me my sexuality. Individuals have shamed me for issues they know nothing about. I wish to say thanks to these of you who stand for love and acceptance.” He continued, “Love who you like shamelessly. It is alright to nonetheless be determining who you might be. Life’s too brief to let ignorance and hatred win. I select love. 🧡💛💚💙💜”
Bassett additional clarified in an interview with GQ that he “wasn’t joking” about being a part of the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood. “I stood behind each phrase that I stated,” the actor stated..
What’s Olivia Rodrigo’s track Drivers License about?
Rodrigo’s debut single Drivers License topped the US charts, was primary on the ARIA charts and is near surpassing two billion streams on Spotify.
On the time of its launch, followers believed the track is in regards to the love triangle that seemingly shaped between Rodrigo, Bassett and Carpenter – particularly since in an earlier model of the observe, Rodrigo sings a few “brunette” woman.
“And also you’re most likely with that blonde woman / Who at all times made me doubt / She’s a lot older than me / She’s every thing I am insecure about,” she sings.
The lyric change induced heads to show and the pointed reference on the “older” girl additionally seems to recommend it is Carpenter, who’s 22.
“I bought my driver’s license final week / Similar to we at all times talked about / ‘Trigger you have been so excited for me / To lastly drive as much as your home / However at the moment I drove via the suburbs / Crying ‘trigger you were not round,” Rodrigo sings.
In an interview with Billboard after the only’s launch, Rodrigo remained tight-lipped when requested who impressed her debut single.
“I completely perceive folks’s curiosity with the specifics of who the track’s about and what it is about, however to me, that is actually the least essential a part of the track,” she instructed the journal. “It is resonating with folks due to how emotional it’s, and I feel every thing else is just not essential.”
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In one other interview, Rodrigo stated she could not presumably have been writing about Carpenter as she didn’t know her on a private degree.
“I feel we have met a few times in passing, however I’ve by no means had a dialog along with her,” she instructed Radio.com in March. “I do not suppose I might write a track that was significant or emotional about someone that I do not know.”
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However whispers of a love triangle continued after her debut album, SOUR, which was brimming with breakup anthems, together with Deja Vu.
Within the observe, Rodrigo sings about watching an ex transfer on with one other actress whereas remembering how they used to sing duets collectively (she did this with Bassett) and commerce jackets (she apparently wore Bassett’s jacket in her Drivers Licence music video).
“Do you name her, nearly say my title? ‘Trigger let’s be sincere, we kinda do sound the identical,” Rodrigo sings. “One other actress, I hate to suppose that I used to be simply your sort.”
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And in Traitor, she sings about an ex with the lyrics, “You ran to her the second we known as it quits”.
How did Joshua Bassett react to Olivia Rodrigo’s track Drivers License?
After Rodrigo launched Drivers Licence on January 8, Bassett hit again together with his observe Lie, Lie, Lie, which he dropped on January 14. He did not maintain again within the single both, calling out an individual for portray him in a unfavorable gentle and “performing all so harmless”.
“I do know what you say about me. I hope that it makes you content. You can not seem to get me off your thoughts (Get me off your thoughts). Oh, I do know you are mendacity via your enamel. You instructed them the lies that you simply instructed me. I’ve had sufficient of it this time,” he sings within the refrain.
In a separate Instagram Story shared after the only’s launch, Bassett stated he was impressed to jot down the track after listening to a good friend had been speaking about him behind his again.
“I wrote ‘Lie, Lie, Lie’ after I came upon a good friend had been mendacity about me behind my again for a very long time,” he wrote in a notice. “It at all times sucks to listen to that somebody you thought you possibly can belief would throw you beneath the bus when it advantages them.
“It occurs to all of us, and I feel all you are able to do is hunt down those who construct you up slightly than tear you down.”
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Whereas Bassett appeared to take Drivers Licence to coronary heart on the time, when Rodrigo launched Deja Vu in April, he was singing a distinct tune. Weeks after her second single dropped, Bassett praised Rodrigo on Instagram Tales.
“SUUUUUUPER late on this however! I like this track a lot @oliviarodrigo!!! The world higher be careful for the album!!!!!” he wrote.
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Extra proof Bassett has moved on from the Drivers Licence drama got here weeks later when he instructed ET Canada, “All I’ll say is, , that is her story to inform. Regardless of the track is to her is her factor to inform, so I am going to let her try this.
“However I’d say I hope folks do not forget the worth that she and Sabrina convey to the world exterior of the drama. And I hope folks will have a look at the depth of who they’re as a substitute of simply the surface-level gossip.”
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Are Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter relationship?
Bassett and Carpenter have neither confirmed nor denied if they’re in a relationship, but it surely’s clear that the pair are good mates.
Bassett even requested the actress and singer to collaborate with him on a observe for the self-titled EP he launched in March.
“I despatched her a fast message and was like, ‘Hey, I feel you are actually superior and I’ve this track I feel you’ll sound nice on, let me know what you suppose,’ and she or he responded like 10 minutes later, gave me her quantity, and I despatched her the track,” he recalled to Brazil information web site Febre Teen forward of the EP’s launch.
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“Luckily, she favored it, so we bought collectively within the studio and it was only a blast to make. I am actually pleased with the way it all turned out.”
However by February of that yr, Bassett dropped the Sabrina Carpenter function all collectively.
“I did not need my EP to be overshadowed by another narrative that folks have been attempting to make,” he instructed Billboard. “I really need the main focus to be on the artwork as a substitute of a few of the speak and the chatter.
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“You should not stay to please everyone, however on the identical time, there are methods to be delicate to conditions the place possibly [the duet] has a greater probability at a distinct time.”
Has Sabrina Carpenter spoken out in regards to the supposed love triangle?
Carpenter appeared to inform her aspect of the story via music too. Weeks after the discharge of Rodrigo’s Drivers Licence and Bassett’s Lie, Lie, Lie, Carpenter launched her personal single titled Pores and skin.
“I am not asking you to let it go. You been tellin’ your aspect. So I will be tellin’ mine,” Carpenter sings, earlier than belting out the refrain: “You may strive. To get beneath my, beneath my, beneath my pores and skin. Whereas he is on mine. Yeah, all on my, all on my, all on my pores and skin. I want you knew that еven you. Cannot get beneath my pores and skin if I do not allow you to in.”
However regardless of the lyric “Possibly you did not imply it, possibly blonde was the one rhyme,” Carpenter insists the track wasn’t a “diss observe”, nor was it a direct response to Rodrigo’s “magnificent track”.
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“I wasn’t bothered by a couple of traces in a (magnificent) track and wrote a diss observe about it,” Carpenter started in a prolonged Instagram message. “I used to be at a tipping level in my life for numerous causes. so i used to be impressed to do what i normally do to manage, write one thing that i want i might have instructed myself up to now.
“Individuals can solely get to you for those who give them the ability to. and lots of people have been attempting to get to me. the track is not calling out one single individual. some traces handle a selected scenario, whereas different traces handle loads of different experiences I’ve had this previous yr.. it additionally exhibits that many issues have truly gotten beneath my pores and skin.. and I am nonetheless studying to not give different folks a lot energy over my emotions.”
Equally, Carpenter would subsequently launch the album emails i am unable to ship which included the observe as a result of i favored a boy.
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“Now I am a homewrecker, I am a slut / I bought demise threats filling up semi-trucks / Inform me who I’m, guess I haven’t got a alternative / All as a result of I favored a boy,” the telling lyrics of the track learn.
Are Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett nonetheless mates?
By the point the second season of Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence it appeared that Rodrigo and Bassett had put their variations to the aspect… at the least on set.
The sequence premiered on Disney Plus and each Rodrigo and Bassett appeared cordial sufficient once they bought again into character as Nini and Ricky.
Within the new season, the pair even sing a duet collectively, titled Even When/The Greatest Half. As a result of pandemic, they carried out the duet individually with the scenes then spliced collectively in post-production, however Bassett was excited, nonetheless.
“I performed guitar once we filmed it and sang alongside to Olivia’s vocals in my ear whereas she shot her aspect individually,” he instructed Billboard. “I am stoked to see the way it all got here collectively and actually suppose persons are gonna find it irresistible!”
Olivia Rodrigo formally left her position as Nini through the Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence season three finale. Attributable to her explosive profession that took off between seasons, Rodrigo solely appeared within the first two and last episodes of the third season of the present that launched her to fame.
“This season it is about attempting to present her character a correct send-off whereas additionally leaving room for different characters to essentially step into the fray and step into the highlight,” showrunner Tim Federle instructed Leisure Tonight in July 2022. “Personally, it is a pleasure to see Olivia’s music explode in such a giant manner. It was so enjoyable to have her again and reminisce on the start.”
