At just over five feet tall, Sabrina Carpenter is one of the giants of the pop world. His latest album, “Short n’ Sweet,” debuted at #1. But that’s not the half of it: Her first three singles — “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Rasa” — all reached the top five of Billboard’s Hot 100 in the same week. The only other musical act to do so was The Beatles in 1964.
It’s a testament to her talent, and willingness to keep going no matter what.
“Sunday Morning” found Carpenter in a rehearsal studio in rural Pennsylvania, not far from where she grew up – a place to practice her stage shows in relative privacy away from the paparazzi. He said it was like home for him: “The air is better, the water is better, the bread is better.”
Her new concert stage is a giant dollhouse, complete with a piano, fireplace, bedroom, and a long, curving staircase navigated by heels.
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There is also an army of supporting people behind the scenes, but the show is all Sabrina. Underneath all that frilly outfit is a backbone of steel.
Asked what might be the biggest misconception about him, Carpenter laughed, “How much time do we have? I think it’s wrong that I don’t write my music. I think a lot of people because I have, you know, a producer and a co-writer that I love , I’m sitting in my room on the phone, not writing songs.”
In fact, he wrote or co-wrote all of her new songs.
At only 25, with her clever lyrics playing everywhere and her face on head to toe in the latest issue of Time magazine, Sabrina Carpenter seems to have just exploded in the music scene. But it took him more than a decade to get here.
She is one of four girls born to Elizabeth and David Carpenter, and young Sabrina showed her love of music early. “He never told me to ‘stop singing’,” he said. “And I think, like psychologically, it probably helped me.”
She started posting singing videos on YouTube, and then at 13 she got a part in Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World”. She also continued to make music, and in 2020 had recorded four albums when she landed the lead role in Tina Fey’s Broadway hit, “Mean Girls.” This would be a turning point in his career, but not as expected.
“I rehearsed for about three months in New York, and we opened the first two nights, and then COVID got me down — got me down real quick!” he laughed. “Like, I was sent home, and like, wow I think I can do eight shows a week, you know, and I’ve been practicing. And now it’s just, like, silence.”
But silence is a blessing. Housebound, Carpenter created his personal album, “Emails That Couldn’t Send.” And when it was released in 2022, it launched him to the next level of fame.
“Nonsense,” from the album “Unsendable Emails”:
He learned to live under the microscope of celebrity. In the past year she has been dating Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who made a splash in the Oscar-nominated “Banshees of Inisherin”. Last spring Carpenter featured Keoghan as a bad boyfriend in the music video for his hit “Please Please Please”:
Please please please please please don’t prove me right
Please please please
Don’t make me cry when I just put on such a beautiful makeup
Despite wanting to keep his personal life private, Carpenter credited his “not-even-biased opinion” for Keoghan’s casting: “I was like, ‘Who is the best actor I can find for this music video?’ And he was next to me and he was really happy, and he liked the song, which was great, he really liked my music.
He is not alone. Her shows now sell out nightly, something she got a taste of when she opened Taylor Swift’s blockbuster “Eras” tour last year.
It’s a lot for any 25-year-old, and through it all, he credits his mother for helping him take care of himself. “He’s selfless, and he’s been that way his entire life with me and my sister,” Carpenter said. “I love him so much!”
Asked for the best piece of advice her mother gave her, Carpenter replied, “Don’t take everything so seriously all the time. So, it’s really helpful. … My mom is a very positive person. What I do is too much, ever.”
Carpenter is now eight shows into his international tour, and as his profile continues to grow, so does the pressure. “There’s always stress, there’s always anxiety, there’s always drama,” he said. “But for me, like, being able to laugh about it is important. So, I would say. And so is caffeine. Because without caffeine, I wouldn’t be doing this interview right now!”
Sabrina Carpenter performs “Espresso”:
You can stream Sabrina Carpenter’s album “Short n’ Sweet” by clicking on the embed below (Free Spotify registration required to listen to the full track):
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Lauren Barnello.
Tracy Smith
