Sabrina Carpenter’s new album, Man’s Best Friend, is already making headlines for its bawdy lyrics, but fans have zeroed in on one song that seems to reference the pop star’s ex-boyfriends.
In the chorus of “Go Go Juice,” Carpenter, 26, lists a couple of names that perhaps not coincidentally rhyme with men she’s been linked to in the past. The verse also explicitly uses the word “rhymes,” which led fans to start connecting the dots.
“I’m just drinking to call someone / Ain’t nobody safe when I’m a little bit drunk,” the Grammy winner sings. “Could be John or Larry, gosh, who’s to say? Or the one that rhymes with ‘villain’ if I’m feelin’ that way.”
Listeners were quick to guess that “John” was a nod to Shawn Mendes, to whom she was briefly linked in early 2023. (Fans previously speculated that the Short n’ Sweet tracks “Coincidence” and “Taste” were about Mendes, 27, reuniting with ex Camila Cabello after his fling with Carpenter.)
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“Larry,” of course, is believed to be a nod to Barry Keoghan, whom Carpenter dated for about a year before Us Weekly confirmed their split in December 2024. Keoghan, 32, famously starred in the music video for “Please Please Please” before their breakup.
Social media sleuths went on to speculate that the word “gosh” is meant to reference Joshua Bassett, while the “villain” in question is allegedly Dylan O’Brien. Carpenter and Bassett, 24, were linked in 2020 after his split from Olivia Rodrigo. (See also: Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” and the line about the “blonde girl” who’s “so much older than me.”)
Carpenter and O’Brien, 34, were linked in 2022 when they were spotted hanging out in New York City, but neither ever commented on their alleged connection.
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As per usual, Carpenter hasn’t confirmed whether her new lyrics are about any specific exes — and she doesn’t plan to.
“I just wouldn’t say,” Carpenter told Gayle King during a Friday, August 29, interview on CBS Mornings. “It’s more fun for people to picture in their head than the person I picture in my head, I think.”
King, 70, asked whether Carpenter felt “badly” that Keoghan in particular received backlash from her fans after their split, but the “Espresso” singer argued that her romantic partners know what they’re signing up for when they date a songwriter.
“I feel pretty transparent going into any of my relationships, that I write songs. And I think they’re just as down for it. I think it’s also, most of the time they’ve been pretty flattered when they get a song written about them, good or bad,” Carpenter explained. “I think they’re just excited to get a shout-out. I’m not scared of men in that sense. … I think I will attract exactly who I’m supposed to attract.”
Man’s Best Friend is out now.
