Of course, public attention on the relationship between the three escalated after the release of Olivia's hit 2021 song, "drivers license." As you're likely aware, Olivia sings, "You're probably with that blonde girl / She's so much older than me" — which many interpreted to be about Joshua and Sabrina.
Well, in Sabrina's new song, the first verse follows Sabrina starting an "innocent" relationship with an unnamed boy — only to later be labelled a "home-wrecker" and a "slut" for "stealin' from the young."
Speaking to Rolling Stone about her new album, she said, “I’m fully aware that even if you try to break it down, really really break it down for people, they still might not understand."
On the song, "because i liked a boy," she continued, "Looking back on it, the last two or three years of my life, that song came from a really real place in my life — so it didn’t feel right to not kind of write that song."
"It was very therapeutic to write that song from hindsight and being like, 'Wow, one thing leads to another and things can really get out of hand.' Just being able to own it at the end of the day, and not let it determine who you are."
She continued, "So many people probably have dealt with the situation of being labeled something that they’re not. And it’s frustrating because you want to do something about it. But then if you do something, people are mad; if you don’t do something, people are mad; and you’re like, 'What’s the way I’m going to feel happy and at peace with myself?'"
In fact, one of Sabrina's inspirations was the movie Easy A. "I was sort of picturing Emma Stone’s character because she was labeled to be something," she explained. "It’s a weirdly empowering film in a sense. She uses humor to deflect her pain and what she’s going through and I do that, too. I think this song has elements of that, too."
This isn't the first time Sabrina has alluded to the love triangle through song — her 2021 song "Skin" included the lyrics, "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."
Joshua has also spoken about the toll the increased public attention took on him in the past, previously revealing that he was hospitalized for stress-induced heart failure after the release of "drivers license."
