Girl Meets POPSTAR: The ACTUAL Story of Sabrina Carpente

Diss tracks, Disney Channel love triangles, and a forced rebrand into the home-wrecking other woman. If you had told me a week ago that this was Sabrina Carpenter's rise to fame and it all began with Miley Cyrus in 2008, I would have told you to check your facts and maybe your prescription too. But contrary to popular belief, the current phenomenon of Sabrina Carpenter did not happen overnight. Sustaining multiple career-ruining setbacks, the future of Sabrina's career was never guaranteed and almost seemed like it wouldn't even happen at all. Miley Cyrus may have built the blueprint. Selena expanded it, but Sabrina Carpenter? She was the final graduate of Disney Channel's golden age that barely slipped past those golden gates. She was the very last to survive the Disney to pop star machine before it shut down for good. So join me as I uncover Sabrina Carpenter's relentless rise from the Disney Channel and just how one common love interest blew up two Disney stars into the biggest radio hits of the 2020s. But before we get into the heavily layered movie that is Sabrina Carpenter's life and rise to fame, with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics this month, there's honestly no better time to get inspired and upgrade your routine. When you're trying to stay consistent, the right gear makes a huge difference. And recently, I've been using Raycon's bone conduction headphones and they've completely changed the way I listen to music. The bone conduction headphones sit outside your ears so you can listen to music or podcasts while being completely aware of your surroundings. And honestly, you have to feel it in person. The audio immersion that comes with Raycon's bone conduction technology is amazing compared to how quiet it is from the outside. Like no one will be able to hear your music, but it's playing full volume in your head. They work by sending sound through vibrations in your bones, which means your ears stay open to the world around you while you get crystal clear music, podcasts, or calls. That way you can stay safe and aware. I specifically use these headphones when I'm walking alone. That way I can listen to YouTube and still hear everything around me safely. They've also come especially in handy in the Uber because I swear I always think the Uber is trying to talk to me and they aren't. And it's great because the headphones are built for all day use with up to 13 hours of battery life. Plus they're IP68 waterproof and dustproof. So they are a must-have for my trip to Hawaii. And since there's no buds sitting inside your ear, they stay comfortable and secure while you move through the day. Like seriously, everyone I've had try them is always so surprised at how well they work when I've already had to order a second pair. Raycon gives you premium performance without the premium price tag. Over three million customers already love Raycon and they come with a 30-day happiness guarantee. So there's really no risk at all. The bone conduction headphones are here to help you go for gold. So go to buyraycon.com slash secretsocietybc to get 15% off. Thank you so much to Raycon for sponsoring this video. But now back to the story of Disney Channel's very last pop star. To even begin to tell the monumental story of Sabrina Carpenter becoming a massive Disney star and subsequent pop star, we have to first journey back to the golden era of Disney Channel. Now don't get mad at me. I'm not talking about Girl Meets World in 2014. I'm talking about the iconic year of 2008. Back then an eight-year-old Disney Channel hopeful named Sabrina Carpenter would enter a contest that would change the course of her entire life. At the time Disney Channel was exploding in popularity due to several successful movies and TV shows in a row. The most iconic of all being Hannah Montana. Miley and her mom realized the gravity of what Miley's career had become. They were raking in millions, but Disney had created a multi-billion dollar empire out of the Hannah Montana and Miley Stewart properties. Miley began showing signs she was outgrowing the channel already. That first sign was Tish filing for a trademark on Miley's name, all to protect her from Disney's greedy grip on her likeness. The second was Miley's insistence on a non-Hannah Montana theatrical release. That came in the form of the last song. But the third sign was a contest Miley would host independently of Disney or their label on a search for the next young talent to fill Miley's shoes. And it would absolutely be titled, Are You A Superstar? Are you a star? Could you be next? I want you guys to show me how talented you really are by choosing your favorite song and recording a video and I'll share it with the whole world. One lucky winner will get to record and release a real album. And guess what? I'm going to be your vocal coach. I can't wait to hear everyone's audition. I'll be checking them out myself. Let's get ready to rock and roll. Miley would read off the challenge every week and would even allegedly review the kid's tapes herself. You guys did an amazing job on the hoedown throwdown. I'm going to get on Miley World tonight and go and comment on each of the videos. Among the many talented kids who sent their audition videos to Miley World online, an eight-year-old Sabrina Carpenter stood out leaps and bounds out of the rest. Her submissions would be posted to Miley Cyrus's official YouTube channel. Hi, my name is Sabrina. I'm 10 years old and I'm going to be doing a Michael Jackson medley of some of my favorite songs. I hope you like it. Week after week, Sabrina Carpenter was a clear standout. Hi, I'm Sabrina. I'm 10 years old and first I just wanted to say thank you to Miley and Miley World for this amazing opportunity. Sabrina would even perform Miley's own songs like the hoedown throwdown or the climbs. I just want to thank everybody for getting me into the top 10 and we had a lot of fun trying with me. Here we go. I've been singing basically forever and my parents always told me that I've been singing since I could talk and whenever a song would come on, I just had to sing it because it's part of who I am. Everybody always remembers me from, well, you were in the talent show. Your name's Sabrina, right? You're the little singer and it made me feel so special. Sabrina eventually got to meet Miley in person for placing in the top four of the competition. Thank you so much. That is so funny. Thank you so much. How are you? How are you feeling? Awesome. Yeah, that was like, I'm not shaking anymore, but I kind of still am. That was awesome. I've never met a real celebrity before. I don't think anybody expected a 10-year-old to still be in this competition, but I am and I'm so grateful to be here and I really want people to know that if you have the passion and the desire to do something, it shouldn't matter how old you are, just keep going. And it's just so eerie to see them alongside each other so long ago where Sabrina's the fan of Miley and now they're being nominated for Grammys alongside each other. Anyway, Sabrina may not have won first place in Miley's contest, but she caught the attention of Ashley Tisdale's manager, Bill Perlman. He would sign Sabrina just as she got booted from the contest in 2010, laying the early groundwork for her career at the Disney Channel. Before filming this video, I had no idea Sabrina was discovered during the golden age of Disney Channel, but it I've always viewed her as someone who ran through that door just as it was closing shut on the golden age of Disney Channel, but to know she was discovered in 2010? I mean, that's before Good Luck Charlie. Anyway, by 2010, Sabrina secured her first major gig in the children's entertainment space as a lead dancer in the video game Just Dance Kids 2. Now, if you remember, this was one of the late Jesse alumni Cameron Boyce's first jobs as well. The high of landing their daughter a professional job in Hollywood was intoxicating to the Carpenter household. Sabrina's parents would pull her out of school in favor of homeschooling, all so she could make more frequent trips to Los Angeles for auditions. On top of all of that, Sabrina's family was already familiar with the industry. Her aunt Nancy Cartwright is the longtime voice of cartoon icon Bart Simpson. On January 5th, 2011, Sabrina's family's hard work finally started to pay off when Sabrina was cast in her television acting debut on NBC's Law & Order SVU. Guest-starring is Paula Moretti, a young victim of a gruesome criminal. And I'm not even going to get into the details of this story. It's honestly traumatic and it really brings up the morals of if kids should even be allowed to be in these shocking TV shows and movies. It all goes back to what Alison Stoner and Jeanette McCurdy say about the children auditioning process. That having to rapidly switch between being kidnapped and brutalized and then regulating that as a child and bringing that back to reality and that it was all just acting is not good for development. Anyway, this dramatic role would introduce Sabrina to her first Disney Channel star, Peyton List from Jessie. They would both co-star on NBC's Law & Order together. It just so happened that this would be the year the Disney Corporation would take an interest in Sabrina as well. After all, her resume consisted of Miley's contest and co-starring with Peyton List. Disney owned a children's TV monopoly. If an actor or actress was getting successful, they would test them without a doubt. Thus, they began populating Sabrina on their various movies and TV shows just to see if she would be a good fit for any of their channels. Sabrina would be first cast alongside the star of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Zachary Gordon, in an ABC pilot called The Unprofessional. When The Unprofessional pilot wasn't immediately picked up by ABC, the show's creators seemingly tried to convert the story into a TV movie. But the entire project was eventually completely scrapped. Around this time, Disney recruited Sabrina for the pilot of the brand new Disney XD show, Gulliver Quinn, alongside Liv and Maddie star Joey Bragg. But this would also ultimately be converted into a TV movie as well. And like The Unprofessional, it would never begin production. I know the path to fame is paved with rejection and disappointment, but I think it's entirely different when we're looking at child actors. I mean, imagine being picked by the Disney Corporation out of thousands and thousands of kids to bring a character to life. You really put in the work to fully realize this character and bring it to life in the pilot. Only for that to never be picked up and the entire project shelved. To be inches away from becoming to not make it, it has to be heartbreaking for those kids. And obviously the only stars who ever truly make it in Hollywood are the ones who can take that rejection head on. And this was proving to be a very strong quality of Sabrina's. I mean, she was just rejected by two pilots and Miley Cyrus' competition show, but she was not slowing down. Anyway, at the same time, Sabrina would provide voice work for Phineas and Ferb and simply be credited as girl. This would kick off for 2012, which would be the year Sabrina would finally set up her big breakthrough for the next year. She was cast alongside Hannah Montana's Moises Arias for the gaming comedy film Noobs, and she portrayed a young version of the character Merlin in the supernatural thriller Horns. This was alongside Daniel Radcliffe, so it was a major movie. She would also film a guest role on Netflix's jail time drama Orange is the New Black. In the episode Forgiving, Sabrina played a bully to Alex Voss, taunting her for being poor. Real Adidas have three stripes, not four. Your shoes are Bobo's. So? So your mom shops at Payless. And works at Friendly's. My mom has like four jobs. That's not something to brag about. You dress like a bum. But as many of you know, Sabrina Carpenter's real breakthrough came in the form of a Disney Channel pilot titled Girl Meets World, a successor to the super popular 90s comedy Boy Meets World. According to her now disgruntled ex-managers, while Sabrina did submit multiple audition tapes to help secure the role, it was the doing of her old managers back then who were able to get her directly in front of Disney casting directors. They say they arranged a key meeting that led to Sabrina booking the part, though this claim is often disputed. Now, one of the most interesting facts about Girl Meets World to me is that it started development in 2012. I thought it seemed a lot like Disney's take on what they thought iCarly would be. And to know that it started development the same year iCarly ended just makes so much sense to me. I feel like Sabrina Carpenter was like a Disney Jeanette McCurdy who could sing. Anyway, it was official. By the end of 2012, Sabrina was officially cast as Maya Hart in the Disney Channel sitcom Girl Meets World. Now, like I said, the show wouldn't air until 2014. Disney had mastered the art of cementing someone as a reoccurring star on their network, and it came with a lot of background work. Sabrina would have a very busy 2013, laying the groundwork that Disney set up for her. She filmed for the pilot of Girl Meets World in March, and she would record her first song ever, titled Smiled, for the companion album Disney Fairies Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. She would guest star on Disney Channel's Austin & Ally as Lucy Gluckman, an awkward young singer, and even duetted alongside Modern Family's Arielle Winter for the hit Disney Junior show Sophia the First. And it just blows my mind how much they get these kids to work. I mean, I had no idea Cameron Boyce was voicing Jake and the Neverland Pirates. And to know Arielle Winter is clocking into Modern Family, and subsequently recording over 100 episodes for children's TV, it's impressive. As 2013 came to a close, promotion for the very first season of Girl Meets World ramped up, from various red carpets to promo shoots for the show. Sabrina was finally living the dream she saw her role model Miley Cyrus live, and it was all happening so fast. In early 2014, recognizing her innate ability to sing, Disney fast-tracked Sabrina's music career on their own label, Hollywood Records, signing her to a five-album record deal at only 14 years old. They would hook her up with a yet-to-breakthrough songwriter named Meghan Trainor, who would pen one of her first singles for Sabrina, Can't Blame a Girl for Trying, the title track of her first EP, a project that would premiere on Radio Disney on April 8th, 2014. So keep in mind, this was only two months before Girl Meets World was set to premiere. So between balancing her recording sessions with her sitcom rehearsals, Sabrina was immediately feeling the pressure cooker that was the Disney Channel machine, and she was only 14 years old. For the next year, Sabrina would be featured across Disney Channel in various soundtracks for movies and commercials. And despite Rowan Blanchard's bisexual Tumblr presence, Sabrina was showing star power the Disney Channel hadn't seen since Bridget Medler, and would genuinely never see again. For the next three years, Sabrina Carpenter would live out her time as the final Disney Channel generation. Alongside 72 episodes of Girl Meets World, Sabrina would star in the 100th Disney Channel original movie, a remake of Adventures in Babysitting alongside Sophia Carson. She even briefly dated Bradley Stephen Perry from Good Luck Charlie. It was truly the final era of Disney Channel as the world knew it, and Sabrina was without a doubt, a breakout star. Capitalizing on her fame, Disney's record label would release her first People were warming up to the idea of another Disney pop star. Thus, a now 17-year-old Sabrina would make the bold musical shift towards R&B with her sophomore album, Evolution. This album had singles that stuck out a little more than her first. For starters, her first album debuted in the upper 40s on the Billboard charts, and her new album was already at number 28. Her song Thumbs would even have a moderate evening talk show promotional circuit. This was the most brutal point in her schedule as a child star, as she was balancing being a full-time pop star with a full-time sitcom actress. She was touring her second album, recording for her third, and filming the final season of Girl Meets World. And by the time the third season of Girl Meets World aired, it was announced the show wouldn't be renewed for a fourth season. It was bittersweet for Sabrina. She had grown so much on the show from ages 13 to 17, and the cast had become like a family. But that was all coming to an end. Campaigns to save the show would light up social media, and Sabrina would thank everyone for their interest and love for her character. But to no avail. The show had run its course. It was devastating to the cast when they learned the news, but Sabrina had her eyes on the prize. She was plunging headfirst into her music career. Yes, she would do voice work alongside Weird Al Yankovic for the show Milo Murphy's Law. But after the moderate success of singles like Smoke and Fire and Thumbs, Sabrina realized how much more inspired she was by the pop music world, and bringing performances of her own original music to life. Without the time and stress that Girl Meets World took up, Sabrina would be able to shoot to the very top of the music industry. But contrary to popular belief, this did not happen overnight. To be honest, in 2017, Sabrina Carpenter was viewed very similarly, if not on a lower level, to Dove Cameron. If you don't know who Dove is, she starred in both roles on her own show, and was the face of Descendants. But Sabrina had a huge music career. Even if it was bubbling under, she was still creating a foundation that would last her entire career to this day. Sabrina is an excellent example of slow and steady winning the race. She released album after album, and none of them had a huge blow up moment like Party in the USA or Love You Like a Love Song, but she didn't let that stop her. And over time, this would pay off big time. Right as Girl Meets World's finale aired, Sabrina released her song Thumbs as a promotional radio single, and it steadily began gaining traction. She would attend her first New York Fashion Week, and be paired up with the boy band The Vamps as their opener for their UK tour. Sabrina, it's so nice to meet you. And this is your first fashion week? My first ever, which I guess isn't that bad considering I'm only 16. Well, that makes sense. Are you so excited? I'm super excited. I'm super into fashion. I have a lot of friends that are going to be here too, which is really fun. So I'm excited to see everybody, along with new style, obviously. I love taking style inspiration, especially stuff that you haven't seen before, and then mixing it with things that just no one's seen yet. It's going to be really fun. I'm excited. We just went to the Emmys the other day. We were nominated for our first Emmy. This was sort of the beginning of people getting to know Sabrina Carpenter just beyond Maya from the Disney Channel. While she recorded various songs for different movies and TV shows, her most notable opportunity of 2017 came when Ariana Grande asked her to open for her on tour. This was the first time Sabrina performed in front of a stadium full of 40,000 people. Thinking about opening up for Ariana Grande in Brazil, what was that like? It was insane. I mean, her fans are already incredible, but put Brazil into the picture, and it was like, I've never seen such a crowd. It was incredible, and she was amazing, and just the whole show was beautiful. Sabrina was bitten by the fame bug, and with another major movie role booked with The Hate U Give, it still wasn't clear if she would break through. At the time she was on the Disney Channel, the network was rapidly transforming its lineup. They began catering towards younger and younger kids, and no one felt the drop off more than Disney pop stars. It was bad press. Right as Sabrina left the channel, it truly felt like the door was shutting to the world taking Disney Channel stars seriously, and I do believe this to be one of the major reasons it took so much longer for Sabrina to break as an artist. If you look at the Disney Channel's trajectory at the same time Miley was transforming into Can't Be Tamed and Bangers, her juxtaposition to the Disney Channel made her so shocking. The Disney Channel that Sabrina was on was entirely different. That family audience was gone, and Sabrina would seemingly have to wait for some of the younger fans to grow up before they felt that nostalgic pull towards her. At the end of 2017, that music manager who helped break Sabrina into the industry sued her for unpaid commissions. What does sue me mean? Who who who are you begging to sue you? Well someone already did, so that's why I wrote it. I think it's empowerment, it's confidence, it's kind of being comfortable with yourself regardless of what anybody thinks. It was clear compared to her Disney peers, she was built differently and ready to take on anything that Hollywood threw at her. In the years leading up to when the world completely changed in 2020, Sabrina's life would go full speed in the opposite direction of where she is now. While yes she released two albums that were in conjunction with each other from 2018 to 19, they were both EDM records. This was her first loud splash into the music industry with three of her songs debuting at number one at the top of the electronic dance charts. It was a major shift for Sabrina. While she was used to having music be a side hustle, these were unignorable numbers. She was officially bubbling under. By the end of 2019, Sabrina was gearing up to release her final musical project with Hollywood Records, aptly titled Honeymoon Fades. By 2020, Sabrina was nearing the end of her record deal and planning on moving into the world of Broadway. She released her final single with Hollywood Records in February and on March 10, 2020, Sabrina debuted as the star of Mean Girls the musical, portraying the main role of Katy Heron. It's genuinely just something I've wanted to do my entire life, but I didn't think I'd be so lucky to do it this soon. And I definitely, like with all my heart, love and I'm a huge fan of this show. It's a great show. It's an amazing show. And so I think to bring my own new life to it in a new way is going to be really exciting. And the whole cast is so talented. And you're in literally every scene. Pretty much. Pretty much every scene. So no breaks. No. If you come to see the show, just like try to think about when I'm going to pee because I'm trying to think about that myself. And submit your answers. I was thinking about it as a matter of fact. Were you? Yeah. Sabrina was so happy she could rest easy and have a new career path away from the harsh world of pop music. But the universe had different plans. Tragically, after only two performances on Broadway, Sabrina's stint would be cut way too short as Broadway effectively shut down indefinitely. Sabrina's world seemed like it was over. Yeah. I mean, from my personal situation, not comparing it to the rest of the world, which has also been a huge bummer. Yeah. It was it was two heavy months of really, really tough rehearsals into going into doing two shows and then having a very long break. And and now at this point, like I I feel for the Broadway community that's that's definitely kind of at a standstill for the longest that they've ever been. And I was just so grateful that I got to even accomplish two shows before that all happened, because that was a really big dream of mine. And and I hope to go back when when everything comes back. The show she'd repeatedly rehearsed live for so many months never even got a chance to showcase In 2020, Sabrina created her own production company, Atlas Productions, pivoting towards TV and film projects, her first being a musical reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, which she was pitching to Netflix. Remember this for later in the video. And for those of you who know, don't spoil it in the comments. This is where Sabrina became a real threat. In spring 2020, Sabrina would debut in the Netflix movie Work It, a dance comedy she was not only starring in, but also executively producing. The project debuted at number one on Netflix, becoming a massive streaming phenomenon. Even though Sabrina had broken free of Hollywood records, Disney still saw the massive appeal she had as an artist and would hire her for two more projects through the end of 2020. These came in the form of ABC's Disney Family Sing Along special, along with Disney Plus release Clouds. For the Sing Along, Sabrina would perform Your Mother and Mine from Peter Pan. And for Clouds, she would play the main character's best friend and lend her voice to the soundtrack yet again. It was clear at this point, Sabrina had a formula, acting in roles that also opened up a spot for her on the film's soundtrack. This same year, Sabrina hopped on a remix of Zara Larson's song Wow, and even guest starred on the ill-fated Quibi show Royalties, a pop music prank show. It's kind of funny looking back to 2020, even though Sabrina was everywhere, I genuinely completely missed her. She was named one of Forbes 30 under 30. But due to the state of the pop music landscape back then, I'm under the impression that anyone who was obsessed with Sabrina in 2020, most likely grew up with her on the Disney Channel, or absolutely hated up-and-coming Disney pop star Olivia Rodrigo. And this is where the story gets really messy. See, in June of 2020, Sabrina was spotted with Disney Plus star Joshua Bassett from High School Musical The Musical The Series at a protest in Los Angeles. The only problem, Joshua was currently publicly dating his 17-year-old co-star Olivia Rodrigo.