Sabrina Carpenter didn’t hold back when referencing her relationship with ex-boyfriend Barry Keoghan and fans have picked up on the dig.
The singer, 26, reposted a TikTok on her page which said: ‘It’s been a tough year but at least I didn’t get back with my ex’.
Sabrina’s most recent public relationship was with the Irish actor, 33, who she dated after meeting at Paris Fashion Week in September 2023 until late 2024.
Notably, the TikTok included Sabrina’s hit song Manchild, which is widely believed to have been written about Barry after their break-up.
Many fans thought that Sabrina was hinting that the lyrics were inspired by her relationship with Barry when she released the track earlier this year.
Sharing the release date for the song, she seemed to take a dig at her ex as she penned: ‘This one’s about you!! Manchild is out this Thursday 6/5 8pm.’
Sabrina Carpenter didn’t hold back when referencing her relationship with ex-boyfriend Barry Keoghan and fans have picked up on the dig
Sabrina’s most recent public relationship was with the Irish actor, 33, who she dated after meeting at Paris Fashion Week in September 2023 until late 2024
Sabrina’s fans clocked the repost on her TikTok, which was one of two videos of a similar theme, and said: ‘Sabrina Carpenter with a very relatable repost’.
Commenting on her bold move, fans said: ‘Shots fired’; ‘Poor Barry… not!’; ‘Might be a lucky guy. I don’t know’; ‘Because he did not want to’;
They added: ‘*Repost*’; ‘The true win!’; ‘Sometimes that’s the biggest achievement’; ‘She’s so real!’
Despite fans being convinced Manchild is about Barry, Sabrina recently dodged the question during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she was pressed about which of her exes inspired her recent hit.
Instead of answering, Sabrina coolly grabbed a beer and took a long sip on camera, letting the moment – and the mystery – speak for itself.
Sabrina’s fans clocked the repost on her TikTok, which was one of two videos of a similar theme, and said: ‘Sabrina Carpenter with a very relatable repost’
Sabrina had already set the internet buzzing back in June when she appeared to take a thinly veiled swipe at ex Barry.
She doubled down by sharing a lyric from the song – ‘Inside of your head when you’ve just won an argument with a man’ – instantly sending fans into a frenzy.
The comment section erupted, with one follower writing, ‘And we know who you are talking about diva,’ while dating app Grindr chimed in, ‘we all thought of him didn’t we.’
Others piled on with reactions like, ‘and just when we needed her most, she returned,’ ‘DRAG HIM BABE WE CAN’T WAIT,’ ‘Oh Barry u are so over,’ and ‘SABRINA SUMMER IS BACK.’
One fan even tied it directly to her past work, writing, ‘he didn’t listen when you wrote please please please, so he deserves this song,’ referencing the track that previously featured Barry in its music video.
Sabrina surprised fans on Christmas Eve by releasing Man’s Best Friend (Bonus Track Version), featuring the newly unveiled song Such a Funny Way.
She dropped the track alongside a lyric video, saying she is ‘so proud of’ it and a song she always imagined living in the same universe as Man’s Best Friend.
She told fans on social media that the emotional release was meant as a holiday gift, saying she didn’t want them to ‘wait too long’ to hear it.
Sabrina appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she was pressed about which of her exes inspired her recent hit Manchild – a song that has fuelled intense fan speculation
Sabrina also thanked listeners for embracing the music, describing it as a ‘cathartic Christmas crashout’ and teasing that more is still to come.
On Such a Funny Way, Sabrina leans fully into the emotional whiplash of a one-sided relationship, singing, ‘You have such a funny way of sayin’ ‘I love you’ / Forgettin’ me more every day.’
She skewers her on-again, off-again lover with cutting lines like, ‘My sweater from the night we met… you said, ‘Don’t contact me again,’ and ‘Funny everybody knows something that I don’t.’Â
The song builds to its most biting moment as she admits, ‘I have to laugh just so I don’t cry.’Â
Sabrina and Barry began dating in December 2023 before going public with their romance at the Met Gala in May 2024.Â
While the pair were believed to have split by December, reports later suggested they were on and off, with sources claiming their demanding schedules put increasing strain on the relationship.
The actor was later hit with rumours of infidelity, though an insider told Us Weekly he was ‘very devoted to her happiness,’ adding that they were simply ‘at different places in their lives.’Â
The source said the relationship became difficult as Carpenter’s career exploded, noting she was being pulled in ‘so many directions’ and had little time to maintain a relationship.
Sabrina surprised fans on ChristmasEve by releasing Man’s Best Friend (Bonus Track Version), featuring the newly unveiled song Such a Funny WayÂ
Another insider said the breakup happened within ‘the last month’ due to their conflicting schedules, stressing that there was ‘no bad blood’ between the pair and that the split was ‘not contentious.’
Asked previously by Rolling Stone about referring to Barry as her boyfriend, Sabrina coyly replied, ‘How do I skirt around this question?’ before adding, ‘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.’
She added at the time, ‘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.’
