After supporting Taylor Swift on her Eras tour, Sabrina Carpenter is on a bullet train towards superstardom in her own right.
The US singer and actress is now following Swift’s lead in taking on a potential high-profile romance – with the 24-year-old being spotted with Irish actor Barry Keoghan.
However, her career trajectory is more akin to that of fellow former child actors such as Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande, with all three having become accomplished adults.
The future seems bright – but, with her stint on The Eras tour now at an end, she is in the mood to reflect on what she has achieved.
“Sitting at home reflecting on what a whirlwind this was and how very honoured I feel to have been part of it,” she wrote on social media of the experience.
“I want to thank every crowd for being so welcoming and generous to us and making some of the most impressive friendship bracelets I’ve ever received.”
With her Emails I Can’t Send Tour taking in London’s Eventim Apollo last year, it might not be long before she is headlining stadium tours herself.
Here is how Carpenter has come from being a sprightly youngster to the fast track to the top.
Disney beginnings
Born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, Carpenter was home-schooled and is no relation to The Carpenters, but does boast a famous aunt in Simpsons’ legend Nancy Cartwright.
After gaining a reputation for singing on YouTube, she was selected to compete in The Next Miley Cyrus Project. Like Cyrus had done a decade or so before, Carpenter went on to star in Disney Channel series Girl Meets World.
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The series wasn’t Hannah Montana but it was enough to get her noticed and she signed a five-album deal before turning 15. The power pop song Eyes Wide Open was her first hit – opening her debut album of the same name and clocking up 79 million views on YouTube.
Balancing a fledgling career in acting (including roles in teen dramas The Hate U Give and Tall Girl) with music, she released five ever-more adul- facing albums in five years.
Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images
Olivia Rodrigo love triangle
Now a veteran of teen romances, Carpenter found herself at the centre of a love triangle of her own involving fellow Disney Channel stars Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett.
The latter pair had been dating but things hit a rock and lyrics in Rodrigo’s breakout hit Drivers License gave a clue as to why.
“And you’re probably with that blonde girl / Who always made me doubt / She’s so much older than me, she’s everything I’m insecure about,” went the 2020 song.
Hmm. Rodrigo was 17 and Carpenter 21 at the time. The elder of the two followed this up with releasing her single Skin, which opened with the line: “Maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme”.
The pair later calmed the intense media speculation, Rodrigo saying that Drivers License couldn’t be about Carpenter, whom she had not met.
Emails I Can’t Send
Next up for Carpenter was Emails I Can’t Send, her fifth album and first to really hit it big in the UK, with fans lapping up dance pop singles Feather and Nonsense.
A world tour followed and, during these shows, she became known for ending Nonsense with a unique outro every time – usually specific to the audience.
This got her in trouble when a Radio 1 Live Lounge rendition ended with her singing: “How quickly can you take your clothes off, pop quiz. I’m American I am not British, so BBC it stands for something different. This live lounge is so lit because I’m in it, innit.”
Please take any confusion to the Urban Dictionary!
David Gray / AFP via Getty Images
Eras Tour
Opening for Taylor Swift saw Carpenter play stadiums in Latin America, Australia, and Asia from August 2023 to March 2024.
The pair collaborated on stage and the pair must have hit it off, with Carpenter attending Swift’s 34th birthday party in December.
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Barry Keoghan romance
After the Bassett fiasco, Carpenter had kept her love-life on the DL but things changed when she went public at the Grammys with Saltburn actor Barry Keoghan.
The pair posed for their first photo together, with Keoghan playfully putting a hand up to partially cover his face while Carpenter blocked her face with a co*cktail glass.
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Sabrina Carpenter
Barry Keoghan
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