by Casey DiBari

Just last week, Sabrina Carpenter, on her official Twitter / X.com account sent out a pre save link for her upcoming Christmas EP, which, for the most part, was met with enthusiastic replies and saves for it. But at the same time, she almost immediately got hit with what might be the most dangerous thing on “Stan Twitter”: the unfair comparison to another artist, even though there is very little reason to make said comparison. And who was it to?


Ariana Grande.


While the comparisons haven’t been necessarily negative, with tweets talking about how they are “mother and daughter”, others are still pointing out that coming out with a Christmas album does not need to be tied to Ariana – many people before and after Ariana have put out Christmas music. In fact, just last year Sabrina put out A Nonsense Christmas, though some of the comparisons were coming up then too.
Truthfully, Sabrina has been compared to Ariana for a while now.

Whether its about her number one single, Nonsense, sounding like it came out of Ariana’s discography according to fans, or even some side eyeing the fact that Sabrina put out a perfume last year (even though she and Ariana are not the first nor last pop stars to do that), or even comparing some other songs from Sabrina to Ariana, the trend to do so seems to be there. And while now it might be favorable, eventually this is a trend that can turn very toxic.


Look at Olivia Rodrigo.


When she first started breaking out in 2021 with her hit debut single driver’s license, and later with her acclaimed first album sour, fans loved that Olivia was this life long Swiftie, especially now that Taylor Swift seemed to be taking the young singer under her wing. People started with the mother and daughter jokes then, happily calling Olivia the new generations Taylor Swift, and even talked about hoping for a collab or a tour.


And then Olivia gave credit to Taylor over the bridge to déjà vu because of it being inspired by Taylor yelling on the bridge of her single Cruel Summer, much like Olivia did on deju vu (even though Taylor does not own the concept of yelling on the bridge of a song), and things started to fall apart. Adding on to that, the fact that Olivia made no mentions last year of listening to Taylor’s 10th studio album Midnights, nor attending her Era’s tour, which has sparked rumors of a feud between the two.


Now when Olivia does anything, whether it be posting a polaroid of herself on Instagram, going to London to spend time with friends, or even releasing a song for the new Hunger Games movie, instead of the “mother and daughter” comments it used to receive, she’s seen more as some sort of leech and social climber who used Taylor and her fans to get where she is now.


So, there’s a risk that Sabrina could run into the same accusations, though her position of being part of Taylor’s circle, for now, gives her some sort of unofficial protection from this treatment. But the risk is still there.


What I find interesting is that this seems to be happening mostly to the girls right now, and not a lot of the guys.


Example: Up and comer Noah Kahan’s single, Stick Season, sounds very similar to former One Direction member Niall Horan’s solo single This Town, at least in start of the song, but there’s no calls to credit Niall at all from what can be seen, no claims that they are father and son, just hopes for them to work together one day. Maybe it’s because, unlike Sabrina or Olivia, he hasn’t outwardly praised Niall as an inspiration or said some of his music is his favorite. Maybe for the guys, its understood nobody owns a concept, chord, note, much like singer (and, somewhat ironically, Taylor Swift BFF) Ed Sheeran was pointing out with his lawsuit over the summer.


Or maybe, as a generation, we are unfairly hyper critical of only women in this industry, despite the claims of feminism and understanding many try to boast.


Just some food for thought.