Often when a celebrity couple calls it quits, they refrain from ever referencing one another again, and it’s as if the relationship never existed. Sure, we’d get an autobiography a few years after the fact, and a few brave stars made veiled references in music videos, but that was the extent of it. However, Sabrina Carpenter is not one to hold her tongue— and we love her for it.
The Taste singer has a track record of making her voice heard. She released Skin after being dragged into the Olivia Rodrigo/ Joshua Bassett situation—‘You can try to get under my, under my, under my skin, while he's on mine.’ Before that, she recorded Sue Me when her former music managers tried to sue her for not paying them commissions, a case she won in 2018 and was awarded legal costs— ‘That's my name, don't wear it out though, feeling myself can't be illegal’— making it clear that Sabrina Carpenter isn’t afraid from firing back via song.
However, while performing in Dublin, Ireland— the hometown of her ex-boyfriend, Barry Keoghan– the pocket-sized pop princess couldn’t help but get one last dig in, and this time she cut straight to the point.
Before launching into Please Please Please, her first number one single, Sabrina addressed the crowd, saying, ‘Dublin, it's so lovely to be here. You all look and sound amazing. But my goodness, these Irish boys are hard work.’
Of course, Please Please Please was written for Barry, and the Saltburn actor even appeared in the music video as Sabrina’s temperamental boyfriend. Once the pair had announced their split, Sabrina followed up the hit with a music video featuring Dolly Parton where the aforementioned boyfriend— this time with a bag covering his head— was tied up in the back of their truck. We told you, her references aren’t subtle.
Barry, too, is known for being pretty direct. In December 2024, right after their split, he released a statement on social media referencing the hate he had received following the end of their relationship.
It read in part, ‘I can only sit and take so much. My name is being dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond to.’
He went on to say that he had deactivated his social media because he ‘can no longer let this stuff distract from my family and my work.
‘Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent, and every other inhumane thing you can imagine. Dragging my character and everything I worked extremely hard for and stand for.’
Here’s hoping these two continue to call each other out— and Sabrina keeps writing chart topping bops about him.
Sarah O'Byrne is a writer for Grazia, heat, Closer, Yours, Bella and Crime Monthly. She primarily focuses on celebrity and entertainment news.