Sabrina Carpenter Opens Up About ‘Please Please Please’ Being ‘Based on Real-Life Events’

She’s just kidding — but really. Sabrina Carpenter recently made a surprise appearance on vocal coach Eric Vetro’s BBC Maestro course Sing Like the Stars and opened up about the inspiration behind her smash hit “Please Please Please,” which she said is very much non-fiction.

While talking about her approach to songwriting with Vetro, the 25-year-old pop star shared that she, “was so excited when I wrote that song, because it felt like a fraction of me that I had been waiting to not only write, but to put out and then perform.”

“Then it just it [made] me so excited for the rest of the project, because it feels very aligned with all the music I grew up listening to that I love, but also very much myself,” she continued. “And that song was obviously based on real-life events.”

The discussion of the song came just days after reports emerged that Carpenter and boyfriend actor Barry Keoghan have split after about a year of dating. The Saltburn star deactivated his Instagram account before posting a statement on X Saturday (Dec. 7), explaining that he “can no longer let this stuff distract me from my family and work.”

“My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond [to],” added Keoghan, who is a father to a young son named Brando. “I have to respond now because it’s gettin to a place where there are too many lines being crossed … Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent and every other inhumane thing you can imagine.”

Many fans believe Carpenter penned “Please Please Please” about the Banshees of Inisherin actor, especially after he starred alongside his then-girlfriend in the Short n’ Sweet track’s music video. The Jack-Antonoff-produced Billboard Hot 100-topper finds the Tall Girl actress literally pleading with a love interest to act respectably, singing, “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another/ I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherf–ker.”

“Please Please Please” is also one of the closing numbers on Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour, which wrapped its North American leg in November. The star — whose holiday special A Nonsense Christmas dropped on Netflix Dec. 6 — will hit the road again in Europe in March.

Watch Carpenter reflect on writing “Please Please Please” below.