Sabrina Carpenter Addresses Controversy Around Her Song ‘Skin’

Sabrina Carpenter wants her music to speak for itself! The 21-year-old singer recently released her song “Skin”, which many fans believe points to the ongoing drama between singer Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett.

But when Carpenter appeared on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” on Tuesday night, she refused to address the drama head-on.

Host Corden asked Carpenter to explain the “controversy” surrounding the song to him and the singer gave her own reasoning behind the lyrics to “Skin”.

“I genuinely was coming from a place as a 21-year-old that is navigating her feelings and was going through a lot in my personal life,” Carpenter shared. “The reoccurring theme was I was allowing people to get under my skin. So I wrote from that place of knowing that there was so many different experiences that will continue to happen to me in my life where I kind of have to remind myself that people can only get to you if you allow them to and you give them that access to.”

Corden wouldn’t let her off the hook that easily, teasing, “I like that, but I feel like you’ve skirted around the controversy.”

“No, I haven’t skirted around it. I think it’s more the fact that people will make a narrative about something always,” Carpenter replied. “And I think this was a really interesting song for people to kind of misinterpret and make it into something that it wasn’t really supposed to be in the first place. But I’ve just been enjoying making music.”

Carpenter also performed “Skin” on the show, starting out a piano in an abandoned building before walking around as rain poured down on her.

The “controversy” Corden was referring to began with Rodrigo’s chart-topping song, “Driver’s License”. Many thought Rodrigo’s song directly referenced her rumoured ex Bassett starting a new romance with Carpenter.

The song refers to “that blonde girl” and in Carpenter’s “Skin”, she sings “maybe you didn’t mean it, maybe blonde was the only rhyme.” Fans have also found several other links implying both of the songs’ intended meanings.

Carpenter previously told fans on Instagram of “Skin”, “This song isn’t calling out one single person.”

For more on the back and forth, watch the clip below:

Joshua Bassett Shows Support for Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Skin’ Song Amid Olivia Rodrigo Drama

Sabrina Carpenter Seemingly Addresses Olivia Rodrigo Drama in New Song