Sabrina Carpenter is absolutely no stranger to singing about her lovers and exes. However, there’s one big sign that her latest album Man’s Best Friend is directed towards her notorious ex-lover Barry Keoghan.
The Saltburn actor and songstress dated for a year. They hard-launched their relationship when he starred in her music video for “Please Please Please. When she finally released her Short n Sweet album, the Irish actor made several appearances, most notably in “Bed Chem” in which she pointed out his “thick accent” and “oversized”…you know. However all of that came tumbling down when People reported that things had run their course in December 2024.
Despite being direct in her previous songs, Sabrina wants Man’s Best Friend‘s lyrics to be up to interpretation. She even warns her partners about the songs she writes as an artist. “I feel pretty transparent going into any of my relationships that I write songs,” the “Manchild” singer said on CBS Mornings. “Most of the time, they have been pretty flattered when they get a song about them, good or bad. I think they’re just excited to get a shoutout.”
However, some songs are so suggestive as to point in Barry’s direction. Here’s a list of songs from the album that raise our eyebrows.
As the first single that was released from the album, Manchild was teeming with hatred towards an ex-lover. She sings, “Why so sexy if so dumb?/ And how survive the earth so long?/ If I’m not there, it won’t get done/ I choose to blame your mom.”
She also sings in the chorus, “Oh, I like my boys playing hard to get, / And I like my men all incompetent.” Is this how Barry is behind closed doors? Maybe so.
The third track off the album, “My Man on Willpower,” is about a man who can’t control his desires, but makes mistakes in the process of doing so. Ultimately, Sabrina’s left a little bit disappointed. She sings, “My man on his willpower is something I don’t understand / He fell in love with self-restraint and now it’s getting out of hand / He used to be literally obsessed with me/ I’m suddenly the least sought after girl in the land.” That must have been a devastating breakup since the switch up was so sudden.
The title of the song “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” speaks for itself. Sabrina recounts the night of a big argument and reconciliation, and this kind of behavior isn’t a one-off thing. She sings in the chorus, “All the ‘I love you’s’ and ‘I’m sorry’s’ were said / We had our sex and then we made amends, that’s right / Called it a false alarm to all of our friends / Then we almost broke up again.”
The aftermath of the breakup was extremely brutal for Sabrina, leaving her not to trust a single man. And honestly, relatable. “Here we go again / Crying in bed, what a familiar feeling / All my friends in love and I’m the one they call for a third wheeling / Probably should’ve guessed, he’s like the rest / So fine and so deceiving / There’s nobody’s son, not anyone left for me to believe in.”
Sabrina blatantly calls out her love for having a wandering eye. “I just wish you didn’t have a mind / That could flip like a switch / That could wander and drift / To a neighboring bitch.”
Like any girl who’s been betrayed by her man, she goes ahead and wishes him the best, but not before cursing him. “Baby, I’m not angry / I love you just the same / I just hope you get agoraphobia some day.” She concludes the song, “I wish you a lifetime full of happiness / And a forever of never getting laid.” Ouch.
At the end of the song she sings, “At the end of the rainbow / I hope you find / A good whole lot of nothing.” Not only is that a huge dig, but it also references an old Irish saying At the end of the rainbow, you’ll find a pot of gold.
We can all relate to having that drunk impulse to call your ex, right? This might be the most direct call out to not only Barry, but two of Sabrina’s other alleged exes: Shawn Mendes and Dylan O’Brien. “I’m just drinking to call someone / Ain’t nobody safe when I’m a little bit drunk.’ As for the next few lines, the flames have been fanned. Sabrina sings, ‘Could be John or Larry, gosh, who’s to say? Or the one that rhymes with “Villain” if I’m feeling that way.” If you didn’t catch it, John rhymes with Shawn, Larry rhymes with Barry, and Villain definitely rhymes with Dylan.
Sabrina makes a very audacious claim in “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry.” She sings in the first verse, “You think that I’m gonna fuck with your head? / Well, you’re absolutely right / Your perfect timing couldn’t be worse / Actually, it’s impressive how you don’t read signs.”
She even makes the promise, “I’ll make you worry like no other girl can / So don’t worry / I’ll leave you feeling like a shell of a man”
Sabrina concludes her album with one last farewell to her lover that didn’t treat her right. She even goes into specifics of the breakup that have all signs pointed to Barry. “Broke my heart on Saturday/ Guess overnight your feelings changes / And I have cried so much I almost fainted,” she croons.
It was Barry who dumped Sabrina, according to the chorus of her song. “Goodbye means that you’re losing me for life / Can’t call it love, then call it quits / Can’t shoot me down, then shoot the shit / Did you forget that it was you who said goodbye? (It was you who said goodbye)”
