Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ Tour international opener drama explained

As all Swifties know, Taylor is taking her tour international bringing the magic of her ‘Eras’ Tour to fans all over the globe.

One of the major surprises of the tour’s international leg is that Taylor announced her opening act is pop icon and “Girl Meets World” star Sabrina Carpenter.

On her U.S. dates, Swift invited a multitude of bona fide stars like Phoebe Bridgers, Gracie Abrams and GAYLE.

However, with the news of her South American dates, Taylor announced that she would be joined by Carpenter — and no other acts.

When Swift trickled international tour dates, fans speculated Carpenter would open for Swift on the South American leg because their schedules aligned.

Yet, Taylor’s full announcement included a small shoutout that Carpenter would be joining the “Shake It Off” singer for all international concerts.

Why is this notable?

To answer that, we have to travel back in time to dissect Carpenter, Swift and Olivia Rodrigo’s messy history.

2021

First and foremost, we need to address Olivia Rodrigo, who blew up due to her viral song “Drivers License.”

As fans know, the infamous line “You’re probably with that blonde girl,” is about none other than Ms. Sabrina Carpenter and their feud over Joshua Bassett.

The love triangle festered for a long while as evidenced by the release of Sabrina’s “Skin,” her rebuttal to Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.” Drama between the two nearly broke the internet as fans rushed to support Rodrigo, who felt slighted by the budding romance between Carpenter and Bassett.

So where does mother Taylor Swift come into play? As fans know, Rodrigo openly identifies as a massive Swiftie as evidenced by her song “1 step forward, 3 steps back,” written to the music of Taylor’s “New Years Day.”

They are friendly too — you may recall, the two singers posed at the 2021 Brit Awards for an adorable fangirl photo.

Now, let’s fast forward to July 2022.

2022

Bassett is out of the picture — the triangle has disintegrated.

Rodrigo is wrapping up her wildly successful ‘Sour Tour’ and Carpenter releases an album titled “emails i can’t send.”

The songs detail her heartbreak around Bassett — who appears to have been a victim in the love implosion just like Rodrigo — but one song in particular calls out the situation.

In the “Because I liked a boy” lyrics, Carpenter detail the aftermath she dealt with post-“Drivers License” saying she was called a “homewrecker,” “slut,” and sent death threats, all because of fans’ perception of her role in the love affair.

Carpenter, however, got her revenge in the classiest way possible as her album grew into a viral success with fans demanding a tour that promptly sold-out in nearly every city. 

This brings us to the present day.

2023

Although Sabrina is known to have celebrated Swift’s music, most would have assumed that Rodrigo would have been asked to tour alongside Swift — or at the very least make a guest appearance.

Yet, since the launch of the ‘Eras Tour,’ only Carpenter has attended an ‘Eras Tour’ gig (she was spotted in Philly).

So, that leaves us with one big question…what happened to Olivia Rodrigo?

It seems the “good 4 u” singer has been silent about her Swiftieness for quite some time and fans speculate a possible falling out between the songstresses.

Does Taylor know something we don’t?

What’s next

Olivia Rodrigo is keeping busy. She’s set to release “Vampire” — her first new song since her “Sour” era —  on Friday, June 30 and fans are anxious to decode the lyrics.

For now, we’re left to speculate over the many conspiracies of the new triangle that these ladies seem to have found themselves in as history repeats itself.

While the future is clearly unclear, anything could happen and Swifties should be ready.

Want to watch the drama unfold IRL?

You can grab tickets for three of Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ shows at Mexico City’s Foro Sol — her first with Carpenter — right here, right now.