Carpenter, who recently signed with Island Records, surprise-released the song on Jan. 22. Fans speculated it was a response to Olivia Rodrigo’s hit single “Drivers License,” due to rumors of a love triangle involving Rodrigo, Carpenter and Joshua Bassett. (In “Drivers License,” Rodrigo sings, “And you’re probably with that blonde girl/ Who always made me doubt/ She’s so much older than me/ She’s everything I’m insecure about.” In “Skin,” Carpenter sings, “Maybe you didn’t mean it/ Maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme.”)
But in an Instagram post last week, Carpenter said “Skin” “isn’t calling out one single person. some lines address a specific situation, while other lines address plenty of other experiences I’ve had this past year.”
“i wasn’t bothered by a few lines in a (magnificent) song and wrote a diss track about it,” she wrote. “i was at a tipping point in my life for countless reasons. so i was inspired to do what i usually do to cope, write something that i wish i could have told myself in the past. people can only get to you if you give them the power to. and a lot of people were trying to get to me.”
Watch the “Skin” music video preview below, and tune in to see the full visual at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on Monday (Feb. 1).
