Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter is opening up on playing her dream show–Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour.” The Disney Channel star turned pop star on the rise recently joined Swift on the South American leg of the tour. In a new interview with Who What Wear, Carpenter reflected on the shock she felt when Swift’s team asked her to open.
“Drivers License,” Dracula, And The Allegations
20-year-old Olivia Rodrigo previously cited Swift as a songwriting inspiration of hers. Swift famously similarly rose to fame during her teenage years, for writing brutally honest songs about her personal life and the growing pains of young adulthood. The pair met at the 2021 BRIT Awards, after Swift allegedly sent Rodrigo a letter congratulating her on the success of her breakout hit “drivers license.” This longstanding friendship began prior to Swift’s friendship with Carpenter, leading some fans to find it strange that Carpenter is opening “The Eras Tour” instead of Rodrigo.
Carpenter and Rodrigo have individually written songs some listeners perceive to reference an alleged love triangle between the two and actor-musician Joshua Bassett. Bassett allegedly pursued Carpenter romantically shortly after allegedly ending things with Rodrigo. Carpenter responded to “driver’s license” with “Skin,” and everyone involved was met with online vitriol. Now, fans of Rodrigo find it stranger that Swift would align herself with Carpenter if she was still friends with Rodrigo. The latter has previously expressed intent to move on from the situation, and reflected upon her own role in the online firestorm.
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Swift and Rodrigo’s relationship is thought to have gone sour upon the release of the latter’s debut. Rodrigo’s “SOUR”, sparked a discussion on the difference between interpolations and samples in music. Samples require the original artist’s consent for use, and royalties are owed to the original artist as well. However, interpolations are fresh instrumental recordings of similar chord progressions, and do not require permission. Nonetheless, Rodrigo gave writing credits to Paramore and Swift after listeners found sonic similarities between two of their songs with Rodrigo’s.
While neither of the credits went to court, some fans of Rodrigo and Swift suspect that the situation resulted in a feud between Rodrigo and Swift. Swift notably invites young women artists to collaborate with her on music and open for her live tours, and Rodrigo has not been present for these opportunities. The singer previously covered Swift’s track “Cruel Summer” on an Instagram live. Now, due to the lyrics of Rodrigo’s lead single from her sophomore album “Vampire” detailing a fame hungry individual who “sunk their teeth” into her, some critics suspect that the singer wrote the track in reference to her writing dispute with Swift.
@jarredjermaine Did you know this is how Taylor Swift “Cruel Summer” & Olivia Rodrigo “deja vu” were connected? #taylorswift #cruelsummer #oliviarodrigo #dejavu #swifttok #swifties #sour #interpolation #sample #samples #sampled #music
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Rodrigo confirmed this summer that she is yet to attend “The Eras Tour,” but called it “The tour of all tours” in a conversation with U.S. opening act Phoebe Bridgers for Interview. Many feel that the feud rumors are only circulating due to a case of popular media pitting the famous women against one another.
@bombxel
Carpenter and Rodrigo have not spoken on the events of 2021 since their respective musical releases that year.
