Sabrina Carpenter<\/a>, who has retitled her long-running \u201cShort n\u2019 Sweet Tour\u201d to \u201cShort n\u2019 Spooky\u201d for the holiday, closes out her show with the exact brand of sex appeal those fans in the bathroom were shooting for. She\u2019s wearing a floor-length gown covered in shimmering orange gems with some black spots and a blue necktie. Eventually, she tears away the bottom to reveal a miniskirt that flatters her figure, but there\u2019s no mistaking it: She\u2019s Fred Flintstone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cI was thinking about doing Pebbles or Bamm-Bamm or Wilma,\u201d Carpenter says the following week, sitting down for a conversation in downtown New York. \u201cAnd then I was like, \u2018You know what? Fred can get away with things.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt tracks: This year, Carpenter has gotten away with a lot.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn February, she went to the Grammys as a nominated artist for the first time, taking home two awards \u2014 best pop solo performance for \u201cEspresso\u201d and pop vocal album for \u201cShort n\u2019 Sweet\u201d \u2014 out of six nods. She celebrated those wins on the road; her first arena tour launched in September 2024, and in March, she set off on the European leg. Even as she continued\u00a0 to promote \u201cShort n\u2019 Sweet,\u201d the next chapter of her career began: She released \u201cManchild\u201d in June, performing the song live for the first time at London\u2019s famed summer concert series BST Hyde Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhy so sexy if so dumb? \/ And how survive the earth so long?\u201d Carpenter sang, but she wasn\u2019t just skewering her immature exes. With the single, and with the release of her seventh studio album, \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend,\u201d in August, Carpenter proved that the raunchy sensibilities of earlier songs like \u201cBed Chem\u201d and \u201cJuno\u201d were much deeper than an attempt to shed her image as a good girl from Disney Channel, where she\u2019d started her career. Instead, she was crafting a thesis on what a next-generation pop star could be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWithin the pages of the pop playbook written over the past decade are edicts from Beyonc\u00e9 and Ariana Grande about the divine power of owning your womanhood and sexuality, while Taylor Swift and Adele have taught of vulnerability as strength and confessionalism as currency. Lady Gaga and Charli xcx demonstrate that a touch of chaos can be the best medicine. Those lessons are all reflected in Carpenter\u2019s catalog. But, at 26, she also has something to say that her big sisters in music haven\u2019t quite gotten to yet: Love and lust drive us all to make crazy choices, so even the most devastating breakups tend to come with a funny-as-hell story or two. Why not reflect that on the radio?<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI feel like you can be super confident and strong and also knowingly fuck up and knowingly get yourself into situations that are not good for you. But you\u2019re doing it all because you are a smart woman and because you\u2019re in control of your life,\u201d Carpenter says. \u201cYou can be super put-together and everything can be in shambles. Like, two things can exist!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s what she was saying when she got on her hands and knees while shooting the cover for \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend,\u201d a fistful of her hair locked in an anonymous man\u2019s grip. \u201cYou can be so in control and so not in control at the same time,\u201d Carpenter says. In the photo, she looks directly into the camera with an inscrutable expression on her face. Is it stress, pleasure or both? Discussing the image \u2014 and the criticism it drew when it dropped in June, with many calling it degrading to women \u2014 she says, \u201cIt was about how people try to control women, and how I felt emotionally yanked around by these relationships that I had, and how much power you\u2019re allowing yourself to give them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGreg Swales for Variety<\/p>\n
\n\tA week after her sold-out five-night residency at Madison Square Garden, Carpenter reflects on the debacle from a hotel room in Manhattan. Minutes ago, she channeled a French chanteuse in a white Jacquemus dress and matching vintage scarf, posing for photos on the penthouse balcony. After saying goodbye to Oscar, the orange tabby she requested join her for the shoot, she trades in her lace gown for a sweatshirt, sweatpants and fleece-lined boots. Feeling cozy, she suggests that we do our interview sitting on the floor. She catches sight of my old-school tape recorder and beams: \u201cRetro! I\u2019m glad they\u2019re still around!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIf Carpenter has moments of weakness, she saves them for her love life. Things are different at work. About the \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d cover, she balances graciousness and guiltlessness with ease. \u201cIt meant one thing to me and 100 things to other people, and I was looking at it going, \u2018That\u2019s valid. Mine\u2019s valid. What\u2019s for dinner?\u2019\u201d she says with a shrug. \u201cNot to bypass the weight that it did carry for some people. I saw it and was like, \u2018That is a great point. It wasn\u2019t the point I was trying to make.\u2019\u201d She\u2019s speaking warmly, but with a firmness too \u2014 until I ask about the alternate album cover she released later, where she\u2019s on her feet, holding a man\u2019s arm. \u201cOh, girl,\u201d she says with a wave, dismissing the idea that she\u2019d given in to the hate. \u201cI just wanted to take more pictures!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat Carpenter is polite enough not to verbalize is that the backlash proved her point, because even when the men in her life and the critics in her comments create situations out of her control, she finds her way back to the driver\u2019s seat. \u201cThe [original cover] really says it all, even though it\u2019s maybe not what you want me to say,\u201d she muses. \u201cBut I was really, really grateful that the fans did listen to the album. It\u2019s been the most beautiful reception.\u201d \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with all 12 tracks reaching the Hot 100 singles chart as well. By November, the record was certified platinum. Carpenter is a master of flirting with controversy while never getting sidelined by it, and the success of \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d has been undeterred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHer big year continued. In September, she was announced as a Coachella 2026 headliner, and in October, she appeared as the only featured artist on \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl,\u201d joining Swift on the album\u2019s title track, which details the glamorous woes of fame. Carpenter opened for her role model-turned-peer on two legs of \u201cThe Eras Tour,\u201d during which they sang together twice and felt a deep chemistry as performers. \u201cTen-year-old me, for so many reasons, could not believe it \u2014 to hear our voices together,\u201d she says. \u201cWe definitely realized it was special, but I would have never been like, \u2018Hey, bestie, put me on a song.\u2019 She was so gracious to think of me for a song that spoke to our life experiences in such a real, genuine way. It really sums up what so many young women in this industry go through.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOn the day of our interview, Carpenter picked up another six Grammy nominations, including album of the year. A few weeks later, her \u201cShort n\u2019 Sweet Tour\u201d finally came to a close. With six sold-out nights at Los Angeles\u2019 Crypto.com Arena, Carpenter capped off more than a year of performances with irreverent flair, spotlighting Miss Piggy as a special guest at her last show.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tCarpenter hasn\u2019t had much time away from the stage at all since the fall of 2022, when she began touring her first post-Disney album, \u201cEmails I Can\u2019t Send.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m definitely getting the comment of \u2018You\u2019ve been on tour forever,\u2019\u201d she says, but she isn\u2019t worried about overexposure. \u201cI\u2019m aware of that [risk], but music finds people when they need it. Just because it\u2019s there doesn\u2019t mean you have to listen!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBesides, those warning Carpenter about audience fatigue will get what they want soon enough. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful that people have been receptive of me being in their faces for a little bit too long,\u201d she says, \u201cand I\u2019ll be sure to take a good nap after.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tA Sabrina Carpenter song is often born from the kind of gab sesh those girls had in the bathroom on Halloween.<\/p>\n
\n\tAmong Carpenter\u2019s closest friends is 2025 Grammy songwriter of the year Amy Allen. The two became creative partners as Carpenter finished \u201cEmails I Can\u2019t Send,\u201d with Allen later getting credits up and down both \u201cShort n\u2019 Sweet\u201d and \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cEvery time we write together, the first hour or two we\u2019re just excited to be hanging out,\u201d Allen says. \u201cWe usually talk for an hour or two, just catching up on life and showing each other songs, like, \u2018Have you heard this deep cut off of this random 1968 album I just heard?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGreg Swales for Variety<\/p>\n
\n\tThen they dive into the lyric fragments floating around in their heads, pulled from earnest texts to friends or spontaneous utterances at a bar. Carpenter offers the new album\u2019s \u201cGo Go Juice\u201d as an example, recalling a casual hang with Allen and \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d producers Jack Antonoff and John Ryan. \u201cWe were walking to dinner, and they were like, \u2018Are we drinking tonight?\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019m just drinking to call someone.\u2019\u201d Immediately, gears started to turn. \u201cThat\u2019s a song. Let\u2019s write that tomorrow,\u201d Carpenter remembers one of them saying. A day and perhaps an ill-advised drunk dial later, the foursome had created a country-inflected \u201ccousin to \u2018Manchild,\u2019\u201d as she describes it. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI also like the idea that \u2018Man\u2019s Best Friend\u2019 is a how-to guide, maybe, for some man out there on how to treat a woman,\u201d she says, laughing. For instance, on \u201cTears,\u201d she promises her partner sexual favors in exchange for doing the dishes \u2014 leading her detractors to claim she\u2019s giving herself away for the bare minimum from a man. \u201cThere\u2019s so much sarcasm in the album. More than people have been able to pick up on, unfortunately,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes I\u2019m like, \u2018You do know, right?\u2019 Maybe I\u2019ve gotta make it more obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile much of Carpenter\u2019s lyricism is unabashedly horny, it\u2019s also clever, and she\u2019s far from being the only celebrity making jokes about sex. So the backlash initially came as a surprise.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think it wouldn\u2019t matter so much if I wasn\u2019t a childhood figure for some people,\u201d Carpenter says, now a dozen years past her breakout role on Disney Channel\u2019s \u201cGirl Meets World.\u201d \u201cBut I also can\u2019t really help that. It\u2019s not my fault that I got a job when I was 12 and you won\u2019t let me evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tShe also knows \u2014 from her own childhood, which wasn\u2019t so long ago \u2014 that her young fans have the capacity to glean from her lyrics what makes sense for them and figure out the rest later. She remembers looking up to female artists who happened to sing about sex when she was younger, and doesn\u2019t feel that they influenced her to grow up any faster than she should have. \u201cI always thought, \u2018When I grow up, then I get to embrace my sexuality more. I don\u2019t even know what that means yet!\u2019 I don\u2019t think they do. I wish I\u2019d had more open conversations about all of it when I was younger, but people feel too scared to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tShe\u2019s also noticed that \u201cpeople think, \u2018Oh, she\u2019ll say and do anything.\u2019 No. I really do have boundaries with myself \u2014 you\u2019d be surprised!\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m just actually living my life, and you\u2019re watching. If you don\u2019t like it, it\u2019s not for you. If you do like it, let\u2019s play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd play she does. \u201cI want to remember this as a time in my life when I really didn\u2019t hold back,\u201d Carpenter says. \u201cI wore the skirts I wanted to wear; I spoke about things in a way that I won\u2019t regret, because I was very open. I think that\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOn the topic of wardrobe, Carpenter brings up how her petiteness has become central to her identity, and I mention being 5-foot-2 myself. \u201cAre you?\u201d she coos \u2014 so I clarify that a doctor technically put me at 5-foot-2\u00bd. \u201cThat\u2019s important,\u201d she says, nodding. \u201cEvery half-inch counts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCarpenter\u2019s cheeks go pink as she realizes what she said. We fold over into a fit of giggles, both knowing that I\u2019ll be writing about her accidental dick joke \u2014 so she owns it. Later, I ask if she thinks her singing career will always take precedence over acting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cMusic is always going to be my true No. 1, but there\u2019s something really special about playing an incredible role,\u201d she replies. \u201cSo I would say No. 1 is music and No. 1\u00bd is acting.\u201d Then she gives me a sly grin. \u201cAnd we know how the half makes a difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Location: The Manner; Styling: Jared Ellner\/A-Frame Agency; Makeup: Carolina Gonzalez \/A-Frame Agency; Hair: Evanie Frausto\/Streeters; Manicure: Naomi Yasuda\/Forward Artists\/Apres; Production: Alexey Galetskiy Productions; Look 1 (Lace Dress): Dress: Jacquemus; Scarf: Palace Costume; Look 2 (Green Dress): Dress: Conner Ives; Hat: Palace Costume; Look 3 (Leopard Dress): Dress: Vintage Emanuel Ungaro\/(that) bityou vintage; Shoes: Melissa x Vivenne Westwood\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Halloween night at Madison Square Garden, and a group of 20-somethings are deep into a sacred ritual:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,166894,166895,8248],"class_list":{"0":"post-328359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hitmakers","10":"tag-hitmakers-sabrina-carpenter-video","11":"tag-sabrina-carpenter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}