The Success of Pop Star Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter is a 25-year-old singer and actress. Following the end of her Disney contract in 2019 she has exponentially risen to pop star status fame. In 2021 following the signing with Island Records she earned her first Billboard Hot 100 entry with her song “Skin.” Carpenter has had one of the most successful years in her music career this year earning her first number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 and to being nominated in the big four categories at the GRAMMYs. The singer released her most popular album to date this year titled “Short n’ Sweet”. Multiple songs from the album such as “Please Please Please” and “Espresso” have remained on the Billboard Charts since their release.
A lot of fans have grown up with Carpenter as she is no stranger to the show business. Carpenter began her career from an incredibly young age by making acting appearances on multiple shows and movies through the years. She was popularly known for her acting appearance on the Disney Channel show “Girl Meets World.” While still being signed under Disney she released five albums but despite her amazing talents no musical success was seen in comparison to her success today. Carpenter says that “It’s interesting to reflect on it now because I don’t feel like I’ve changed that much I feel like the seed was always there of you know me always kind of having a direction… it took a few tries and I don’t even think of it as it took a few tries to be good or to be successful I just think maybe for people to understand it and catch on to who I am.” Newer fans of the singer have commented on how good her older music also is and leaves them wondering why it took so long for he to break out into stardom.
In 2021 Carpenter was a topic of discussion surrounding Olivia Rodrigos song “drivers license” in which she mentions a “blonde girl”. Many assumed that Rodrigo was referring to Carpenter in the song. Although the song was not directly targeting Carpenter this fueled an online hate train towards her. At the 2022 met gala Rodrigo and Carpenter were captured in a photo conversing with each other but since then have not been seen with each other despite having multiple mutual friends.
Under Island Records she released her first album “emails i can’t send” in mid 2022. Being signed to her new record label has allowed Carpenter to freely express herself more creatively with her career. The album has songs such as “because i liked a boy” where she addressed the hate she received from the Rodrigo situation and viral song “Nonsense”. At the time Carpenter started to see a glimpse of a long-awaited success. She started to be recognized online for changing the outro rhyme of “Nonsense” for performances at each tour stop. Being that the general public still had the Disney version of Carpenter in their mind it was a bit shocking yet refreshing to hear her more mature lyrics and performances.
About a year after the release of “emails i can’t send” she opened for Taylor Swift at The Eras Tour for 25 shows in Latin America and Australia. She also released the deluxe version of the album titled “emails I can’t send fwd:” at the beginning of 2023.
Late 2023 controversy ensued from the release of her music video for the song “Feather” off her deluxe album which took place in a Catholic Church. Many saw this music video as offensive and disrespectful to the religion. People thought it was inappropriate to film in that space as well as the content of the video since she was also killing men.
Following The Eras Tour and the controversy of “Feather” she embarked on various performances at music festivals such as Coachella where she performed her hit song “Espresso” for the very first time. Although “Espresso” became her huge breakout success hit it was not the song that earned her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100. “Please Please Please” was the song that claimed that title. Carpenter charted multiple top 10 entries for 24 consecutive weeks this year. “Espresso” became so popular that it is used to describe artists having their breakout moment or songs that should have been their breakout moments. For example people will say about an artist “this should’ve been her espresso” or “this was her espresso.”
Carpenter has been performing at her Short n’ Sweet Tour these past few months with multiple viral moments hitting the internet of her new concert set and her sparkly outfits. It seems that even the non-fans are tuning in to her shows this time around. Many anticipate each show as each city has uniquely colored outfits and fan interactions. Carpenter expressed that she likes “to take people out of the show for a second it just makes it feel a little bit more like a slumber party or something.” Although she is now performing at arenas instead of smaller venues she is still able to leave special moments with the audience.
Online commentators on social media platforms such as X have expressed that their liking for Carpenter stems from her charisma and the fact that she is true to herself. When it comes to writing songs Carpenter said “I usually really really write from first hand experience every song on the album is something that happened to me…” Many say that Carpenter does not seem like she is trying to be someone else which overall emphasizes her authenticity including in her songwriting. Co-writing every single song on “Short n’ Sweet” listeners see the dedication that Carpenter has for her art.
Previously many considered her fashion as inauthentic and simply following fashion choices that were popular. Now Carpenter is seen as a trendsetter for many. From makeup style to fashion style Carpenter has influenced many people to try out new looks. Her iconic blonde hair and deep pink blush along with her stage outfits have created a strong sense of identity for the singer.
To this date Carpenter has multiple songs of the “Short n’ Sweet” album sitting at well over 100 million streams each on Spotify. While being interviewed about the album Carpenter said “Honestly like it really does feel like a self-titled album to me…it really just feels like all of these stories and memories… and just some of the best memories I’ve had over the last two years of writing it so I’m really excited for everyone to hear it.” Carpenter has easily become a pop icon this year alone. Many are awaiting the GRAMMY winners coming up in 2025. She is up against other popular artists such as Chappell Roan and Charli xcx who also had an extremely successful year with their music this year.
Recently news broke that Barry Keoghan and Carpenter have called it quits to their relationship following allegations of Keoghan cheating on Carpenter. Fans and non-fans are livid for Carpenter referencing her song “Please Please Please” in which she begs him to not embarrass her. Keoghan starred in the music video for the song as well. Carpenter has yet to make a statement on the matter but many are pouring out their support for her at this time.
Carpenter released her Netflix special show today titled “A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter” which includes guest star appearances and performances. Slowly but surely Carpenter has seamlessly solidified herself into the pop space.
