Sabrina Carpenter declares she’s ‘in love for the first time’ in rare comment about romance with Barry Keoghan and reveals ‘idol’ Taylor Swift’s relationship advice

Sabrina Carpenter has declared she’s ‘in love for the first time’ amid her romance with Irish actor Barry Keoghan. The Espresso singer, 25, and Oscar-nominee, 31, made their first offical red carpet debut as couple at the Met Gala in May, after first crossing paths at PFW in September last year before being spotted on a date a few months later.

Speaking to Vanity Fair Sabrina discussed her songwriting process and explained how ‘idol’ Taylor Swift taught her to let an audience interpret the meanings to her songs: ‘I try to not tell people what a song is explicitly about’. People don’t always know what’s going on inside the minds of anyone, let alone a young girl who’s navigating love and a lot of things for the first time’.

Sabrina coyly confirmed her new single was inspired by Barry in the comments of his June 6th Instagram post announcing the video where she quoted her own lyric: ‘I heard that you’re an actor!’. The lyrics read ‘I heard that you’re an actor, so act like a stand-up guy / Whatever devil’s inside you, don’t let him out tonight / I tell them it’s just your culture and everyone rolls their eyes.’ With the pair also playing a couple in the very steamy music video.

Elsewhere in the interview Sabrina said how the Taylor, 34, taught her there was no ‘how-to book’ to navigate a relationship in the glare of the public eye. And went on to gush about the superstar, after they became pals when Sabrina opened for her on the the Australian, Singapore and South American legs of the Era’s tour earlier this year. Telling the publication: ‘It is magnificent to grow up idolizing someone, and then meet them, and they are all the things that you hoped that they would be’.

‘On a personal level, she’s really been there for me, and I’m so grateful. That’s something she’s taught me really well—she has remained very human throughout all of it.’ Sabrina’s declaration of love comes after she was coy about describing Barry as her boyfriend, even after casting him as her leading man in the Please Please Please music video. Asking Rolling Stone: ‘How do I skirt around this question?’

The [dating] pool is the pool, and when you meet people that feel authentic and are so brilliant and amazing in every way, that’s what you do’. ‘Obviously, I write songs about exactly how I feel, so I guess I can’t be so surprised that people are interested in who and what those songs are about. That’s something that comes with the territory.’ Barry fathered 22-month-old son Brando during his two-year relationship with dental nurse Alyson Kierans, which ended in mid-2023.

On April 1, the former Disney Channel star modeled the Stretch Lace campaign for Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand SKIMS, which outraged Swifties considering their ongoing feud which began way back in 2016. ‘As much as people want to believe you’re tuned into every little thing, I’m not because I’m constantly working. In that scenario, I’ve been very, very communicative with [Taylor] about that situation, and I just love her so much and support her till the end,’ Sabrina explained.