How Sabrina Carpenter went from Disney star to Taylor's opening act.

Have you heard the name Sabrina Carpenter a lot recently?

That's not surprising. The 24-year-old is currently playing to stadium crowds as the opening act for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour shows Down Under — which, of course, no one can stop talking about. 

As a longtime Swift pal, fan and mentee, it's kind of the perfect gig for her.

But if you haven't been paying attention to up-and-coming pop stars, or the current suite of former Disney stars shedding the wholesome House of Mouse image (so fair), you might have missed her becoming a Pretty Big Deal.

Watch: Sabrina Carpenter covers 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' at the Eras Tour in Melbourne. Post continues below video.

But, to quote the very first line of the Eras Tour, "it's been a long time coming".

Carpenter is a 24-year-old Pennsylvanian who already has more than a decade of career experience behind her.

At 12, she landed the role of Maya Hart in the Disney Channel Girl Meets World, a spinoff of 90s sitcom Boy Meets World. And like all great Disney child stars, she also dabbled in music at the same time. 

In 2014, she released her debut EP, followed by albums Eyes Wide Open in 2015, Evolution in 2016, Singular: Act I in 2018 and Singular: Act II in 2019.

And in March 2020, she made her Broadway debut as Cady Heron in Mean Girls. She only performed in two shows, because we all remember what else happened in March 2020 that brought all theatres to a close.

So, it's not quite like it may seem; that she emerged fully formed just a couple of years ago. She has been building her career for a really long time. But, of course, that past success can't quite compare to her current 'moment'.

There is, naturally, the Swift effect, and Carpenter has definitely been taken under the wing of the world's biggest popstar. It's full-circle too: as a child, the first ever video Carpenter uploaded to YouTube was of herself singing 'Picture to Burn' from Swift's debut album.

They have regularly hung out at awards shows in recent years (and more recently, at football games).

In 2021, Carpenter's notoriety increased immensely when she was implicated in Olivia Rodrigo's viral hit 'drivers license', about the disorienting feelings of a breakup.

Speculation about the mentioned "blonde girl" Rodrigo's ex moved on with landed on Carpenter, who had dated Rodrigo's ex Joshua Bassett (though they never officially confirmed it). This led to a pretty rough time for each of them, as both Bassett and Carpenter have spoken about.

Each also released (unconfirmed) response tracks. Carpenter's was called 'Skin', which includes a direct reference: "Maybe you didn't mean it / Maybe blonde was the only rhyme" she sings.

In 2022, Carpenter released for fifth album, Emails I Can't Send. Among the track list is a song called 'Because I Liked a Boy', about the toll of being trolled and slut-shamed took on her, all 'because she liked a boy'.

"Now I'm a home wrecker, I'm a slut / I got death threats filling up semi-trucks," she sings in the chorus.

As well as regularly hanging with Swift at awards shows (and football games), Carpenter has become a bit of a Gen Z it-girl, with magazine covers and many a fashion moment.

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After briefly being linked to Shawn Mendes and Dylan O'Brien, she's also recently been linked to another person having a major cultural impact right now: Saltburn and The Banshees of Inshirin actor Barry Keoghan.

They met at a runway show in September 2023 and were first spotted out for dinner in December.

They were photographed together at a Grammys after party on February 4, 2024 and again while out for dinner on February 12, just before Carpenter hoped on a plane to Australia.

Feature image: Instagram @sabrinacarpenter.