Before she was sipping espresso and selling out arenas worldwide, Sabrina Carpenter was just a blonde kid in a denim jacket trying to make sense of the subway system in New York City. Well, a fictional version of it, anyway. Most people today see the pop icon—the bangs, the platform boots, the witty "Nonsense" outros—and forget that her launchpad wasn't a viral TikTok clip or a lucky playlist placement. It was a Disney Channel sitcom that had the impossible task of living up to a 90s legend.
Honestly, looking back at Sabrina Carpenter in Girl Meets World, it’s wild how much she carried that show on her back. She played Maya Hart, the edgy, artistic, and occasionally heartbroken best friend to Rowan Blanchard’s Riley Matthews. While Riley was the "Girl" meeting the "World," Maya was the one actually living in it.
She wasn't just a sidekick. She was the soul of the series.
The Audition That Changed Everything
Here’s a fun piece of trivia: Sabrina actually auditioned for the lead role of Riley Matthews first. Can you imagine? A world where Sabrina Carpenter played the bubbly, optimistic, slightly naive Riley? It feels wrong. The casting directors clearly saw something different. They saw that spark of rebellion and the "cool girl" energy that defined Maya.
They gave her the part of the "Shawn Hunter" archetype, and she absolutely ran with it.
The chemistry between Sabrina and Rowan wasn't fake, either. They were forced to go outside and "bond" by the producers during the audition process, and they ended up becoming real-life best friends. That’s probably why their on-screen friendship felt so heavy. When they fought, it felt like your own friends were fighting. When they sat in that bay window, it felt like a safe space.
Maya Hart: Not Your Average Disney Character
Disney Channel has a habit of making every "rebellious" character just a kid who wears leather jackets and says "no" to homework. Maya Hart was deeper than that. Sabrina brought a level of grit to the role that most 14-year-olds can't pull off.
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Maya’s backstory was actually pretty dark for a kids' show.
- A father who abandoned her.
- A mother working double shifts at a diner.
- A deep-seated fear that she wasn't "good" enough for the Matthews family.
There’s this one episode, "Girl Meets Forgiveness," where Maya has to confront her father. It is genuinely gut-wrenching. Sabrina’s performance in that episode is probably the moment everyone realized she was going to be much bigger than a sitcom star. She wasn't just reading lines; she was tapping into something real. Fans still talk about that scene today because it touched on abandonment issues in a way Disney rarely does.
The Musical Genesis
If you listen closely to the Girl Meets World theme song, "Take On The World," you’re hearing the literal start of a billion-stream career. Sabrina and Rowan sang it together. But it wasn't just the theme song. The show gave Sabrina a platform to showcase her voice constantly.
Whether Maya was singing at a graduation or just humming in the hallways, the "singer" identity was always there. She signed with Hollywood Records (the Disney-owned label) right around the time the show started.
The Evolution (Literally)
While she was filming the show, she released her first album, Eyes Wide Open. It was very folk-pop, very "I play the guitar in my bedroom" vibes. It’s a far cry from the disco-pop of Short n' Sweet, but you can hear the songwriting bones. She was learning how to tell stories through lyrics while learning how to tell them through Maya.
That Infamous Love Triangle
We have to talk about it. The Lucas-Riley-Maya triangle.
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For a lot of fans, this was where the show got messy. For a while, the writers tried to push Maya and Lucas (Peyton Meyer) together. It sparked a massive "Lucaya" vs. "Rucas" war on Twitter and Tumblr. Sabrina played the "confused feelings" trope perfectly, even if the writing felt a bit circular.
The most interesting part? The "Maya-becomes-Riley" arc. The show explored the idea that Maya was losing her identity because she loved her best friend so much she was subconsciously mimicking her. It was high-level psychological drama for a show that also had a character named Farkle.
Life After the Bay Window
When the show was canceled in 2017 after three seasons, people were devastated. Sabrina found out the show was over while she was at an In-N-Out. (She also found out she got the part at an In-N-Out. Talk about full circle.)
While some Disney stars struggle to move on, Sabrina used the end of the show as a springboard. She didn't try to hide her Disney past, but she didn't let it define her. She went to Broadway for Mean Girls. She did gritty indie movies like The Short History of the Long Road. And she kept writing.
She's often said that Maya Hart will always be one of her favorite roles. It gave her the confidence to be "the rebel."
Why It Still Matters in 2026
You might be wondering why we're still talking about a Disney show from a decade ago. It’s because Sabrina Carpenter in Girl Meets World provided the blueprint for the pop star she is today.
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Maya Hart was witty, sarcastic, and fiercely loyal. She had a "don't care" attitude that masked a very sensitive heart. Sound familiar? That’s basically the persona Sabrina has perfected in her music. The "Nonsense" outros are just Maya Hart's sarcastic quips set to a beat.
The show also built a foundation of "stans" who have been there since day one. If you see a fan at a concert wearing a vintage Girl Meets World t-shirt, they aren't just being nostalgic. They’re honoring the era where Sabrina proved she was more than just another "Disney kid."
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
If you want to revisit this era or understand the hype, here is the best way to do it:
- Watch the "Girl Meets Forgiveness" episode. It is objectively her best acting work on the show.
- Listen to her debut EP, "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying." It was released during Season 1 and shows the massive gap between her early sound and her current hits.
- Check out her old YouTube covers. She started posting these at age 10, long before the show, and they explain how she got the "Maya" role in the first place.
Sabrina Carpenter didn't become an overnight success. She was a girl meeting the world, one episode at a time. Maya Hart was just the beginning.
Next Steps: If you're feeling nostalgic, you can stream the entire series of Girl Meets World on Disney+. Keep an ear out for the acoustic version of "Smile" she performed—it's a hidden gem in her early discography.