The feud at the heart of Britain’s biggest festivals: Former Disney stars Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter are set to dominate Glastonbury and BST this weekend – but talk of their bitter love rivalry won’t go away

They’re two of the hottest acts selling out arenas across the world right now – and as former Disney stars Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo are making a fortune with their music, they can perhaps credit one another for the bitter romantic ‘feud’ that fuelled both their careers.

Olivia, 22, is headlining Glastonbury this weekend, while Sabrina, 26, will be at British Summer Time (BST) at Hyde Park. Both the ‘pop girlies’ are near neck and neck in their successes despite wildly different career paths.

Sabrina has 71 million monthly Spotify listeners, while Olivia has 45 million. Elsewhere, the blonde bombshell’s estimated net worth is a whopping $16 million while the ‘Vampire’ singer’s is $25 million. Even on social media, both have racked up millions of followers.

But while Sabrina has been putting out music for years, with six albums out – and a seventh set for a summer release – Olivia’s monumental success came after just two records, the last of which landed in 2023.

While the performers were already famous in their own right following years in the spotlight as child actors, one notorious ‘love triangle’ burst Sabrina and Olivia – as well as their mutual ex Joshua Bassett – into a newly huge global stage.

Twenty-four year old Joshua – also an actor and singer who got his start on the children’s channel – has long been rumored to be the subject of Olivia’s January 2021 breakup ballad Driver’s License, which catapulted her to superstardom.

The pair reportedly dated while shooting the first two seasons of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which premiered on Disney+ in 2019.

Due to the assumptions made about the song, Joshua became a target online to Olivia’s protective fanbase.

Fans also suspected that Sabrina was the ‘other woman’ referenced in the song’s lyrics as Olivia notably sings about ‘that blonde girl’ who ‘made [her] doubt’ the relationship. 

She also notes in the lyrics that the unnamed blonde is ‘much older than me’, which many took to refer to Olivia and Sabrina’s three-year age difference.

But despite the pair’s alleged romantic ‘feud’, Sabrina was seen showing her support for Olivia as she attended her BST Hyde Park gig in London on Friday.

The surprise appearance seemingly shocked fans and it wasn’t long until pictures of the Espresso hitmaker were posted by various accounts on Instagram. 

She was seen smiling, dancing and sipping on wine as Olivia took to the stage to headline the festival in the capital, appearing to put their reported love rivalry firmly behind her. 

Sabrina was reportedly linked to Joshua in mid-2020 but they were broken up by 2021. 

Shortly after Driver’s License, Sabrina also released a song called Skin, which has been seen by many as retaliation.

The lyrics, seemingly addressing Olivia, go: ‘Maybe we could have been friends; If I met you in another life; Maybe then we could pretend; There’s no gravity in the words we write.

‘Maybe you didn’t mean it; Maybe blonde was the only rhyme; The only rhyme.’

Elsewhere, Joshua himself also released a track thought to be associated with the drama, titled Lie Lie Lie. 

‘So they told me all the things that you said; Running all over my name, oh-oh-oh,’ he sang.

‘And you’re acting, oh, so innocent; Like I’m the only one to blame.’

Olivia and her ex Joshua have never publicly confirmed or denied anything relating to their alleged romance and breakup.

The Deja Vu singer is now happily dating British actor Louis Partridge, while Sabrina was in a high-profile romance with Barry Keoghan throughout 2024.

Despite their previous drama, Olivia and Joshua showed that they had moved forward amicably when they reunited on the High School Musical season three premiere red carpet in 2022. 

In interviews, Olivia has also stressed that there is no bad blood between them. 

‘I actually don’t know her at all. I think we’ve met once or twice in passing, but I’ve never had a conversation with her,’ she told Radio.com in 2021.

‘So, I don’t think I could write a song that was meaningful or emotional about somebody that I don’t know. But I think artists should be able to write about whatever they want to write about.’

She also insisted that the identity of the person in the lyrics is the least important part of the song – albeit understanding the curiosity.

In an interview with Variety, she also remarked: ‘I don’t really subscribe to hating other women because of boys. I think that’s so stupid, and I really resent that narrative that was being tossed around.’ 

Sabrina recently addressed the ‘era’ in her Rolling Stone interview, admitting she ‘doesn’t think about it, ever’. 

Quipping at the ‘blonde girl’ lyric, she added: ‘I’ve tried being brunette, and it didn’t look good on me, so this is what it is.’

She has also addressed the backlash she got on social media following the drama, in a song titled All Because I Liked A Boy, where she sings about being called a ‘homewrecker’ and ‘s**t’. 

The rumoured romantic rivalry isn’t the only time the two women were pinned against one another.

After their global catapult to fame, the pair were also positioned against each other in the run-up to see which one would be hitmaker Taylor Swift’s ‘protégé’. 

In 2021, Olivia released her album, Sour, and had gushed about Taylor being her ‘mentor’ – with the 35-year-old even calling the younger singer her ‘daughter’.

She previously told Billboard that same year that the Bad Blood hitmaker had written to her after dropping hits such as Driver’s License.

‘I don’t want to divulge too much because it’s really sweet and personal. But she talks a lot about how, I think, you make your own luck in the world. And when you do kind things to others, good things come your way,’ the actress explained.

However, she later faced copyright issues with some of the tracks, including Deja Vu.

The star had re-recorded a melody from Taylor’s Cruel Summer, causing Rodrigo to later give both a co-writing credit as well as royalties to Swift. She later dealt with a similar situation with Paramore.

‘I love Cruel Summer. That’s one of my favorite songs ever. I love the yell-y vocal in it, the harmonized yells she does. I feel like they’re super electric and moving, so I wanted to do something like that,’ the beauty told Rolling Stone also in 2021.

Fans felt this led to a ‘rift’ between mentor and mentee. 

In contrast, many thought she took Sabrina under her wing by using her as an opener for the Eras Tour – a move that further boosted her platform.

In 2023, listeners also suggested that Olivia’s track Vampire, included on second studio album titled, Guts, was about Taylor.

Some lyrics that raised eyebrows included, ‘As you sunk your teeth into me, oh/Bloodsucker, famef***er/Bleedin’ me dry, like a godd**n vampire.’ 

When questioned about it by The Guardian, Olivia replied: ‘How do I answer this? I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about.’ 

‘I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing.’

Still, the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star said she was ‘very surprised’ when she learned that ‘people thought’ the track was about the Shake It Off singer.