Sabrina Carpenter

• 1. Introduction

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  Sabrina Carpenter was one of 7,000 entrants in an online singing contest that opened in October 2008. The contest was called The Next Miley Cyrus Project, and Miley Cyrus herself ran it. Carpenter did not win. She placed third, in 2010. Yet this American singer, songwriter and actress went on to build a career that crossed television, film, Broadway and the top of the pop charts. How does a young performer who finishes third in someone else's contest end up with number-one records of her own? What does it take to leave a family-friendly cable network behind and be taken seriously as a pop star? And why do her songs keep landing in the middle of public arguments?

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• 2. Pennsylvania To Hollywood

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  Quakertown, Pennsylvania, is where Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter was born on the 11th of May 1999. Her parents are David and Elizabeth, who was born Sneidar, and she grew up in East Greenville. Her eldest sister, Shannon, is a dancer. Sarah, an older sister, is a photographer and Carpenter's creative partner. A half-sister, Cayla, works as a hairdresser and makeup artist. Their father is a stepbrother of the actress Nancy Cartwright.

  Voice lessons began when Carpenter was six years old. By about ten, she was posting YouTube videos of herself singing songs by Christina Aguilera and Adele. Her father built her a recording studio to feed the habit. She was homeschooled, and at 13 she moved to Los Angeles.

  The year 2011 brought her first acting job, a guest role on the NBC drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Around then she also sang Something's Got a Hold on Me at a Gold Mango Audience Festival program, put on by the Hunan Broadcasting System in China. Her manager was Bill Perlman. In the summer of 2012 she had a recurring part in the Fox sitcom The Goodwin Games.

  In January 2013, Disney Channel cast her as Maya Hart in Girl Meets World, a spin-off of Boy Meets World. The series ran for 72 episodes and finished on the 20th of January 2017. Carpenter recorded its theme song with her co-star Rowan Blanchard.

  Music followed in 2014. After releasing independent promotional singles between 2010 and 2013, she signed a five-album deal with the Disney-owned Hollywood Records. Her debut single, Can't Blame a Girl for Trying, came out in March 2014 and was co-written by Meghan Trainor. An EP of the same name followed in April. That July she sang lead vocals on the Disney Channel Circle of Stars version of Do You Want to Build a Snowman? She also released her first Christmas single, Silver Nights, before the year ended.

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• 3. The Hollywood Records Albums

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  Billboard reported that Eyes Wide Open sold over 12,000 copies in its first week after its release on the 14th of April 2015. The album peaked at number 43 on the Billboard 200 and won two Radio Disney Music Awards. Its lead single, We'll Be the Stars, had arrived that January. The sound was mostly teen pop with touches of folk-pop.

  Evolution followed in October 2016. It debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 with 13,000 copies sold in its first week. The single Thumbs reached number one on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and was later certified Platinum by the RIAA. Another single, On Purpose, earned a Radio Disney Music Award nomination. That autumn she began her first headlining outing, the EVOLution Tour.

  The summer of 2017 brought a second headlining run, the De-Tour. She also opened for Ariana Grande on the Dangerous Woman Tour in São Paulo. Her single Why peaked at number 21 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, her second entry on that chart.

  Dance floors gave her the next breakthrough. In March 2018, Carpenter released Alien with the English DJ Jonas Blue. The song topped the US Dance Club Songs chart and reached number 12 on the US Dance/Electronic Songs chart. In May 2018, Nylon magazine included her in a list of 25 Gen Z'ers changing the world.

  Singular: Act I arrived on the 9th of November 2018. She had planned a single album, then announced it would be split into two acts. Its singles Almost Love and Sue Me both reached number one on Dance Club Songs. The Singular Tour began in March 2019.

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• 4. Screen and Stage

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  Jenny Parker, the lead in the Disney Channel Original Movie Adventures in Babysitting, gave Carpenter a starring film role in June 2016. She and her co-star Sofia Carson performed the theme track, Wildside. Her voice also turned up in animation. She played Princess Vivian in Sofia the First from 2013 to 2018, recording All You Need there with Ariel Winter. She also voiced Melissa Chase in Milo Murphy's Law.

  In 2018, she appeared in The Hate U Give, based on the novel of the same name. The Short History of the Long Road premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released by FilmRise in June 2019. Reviews were positive, and her role was praised. Netflix then cast her in Tall Girl in 2019 and Tall Girl 2 in 2022.

  Work It, released in July 2020, was a Netflix film she starred in and executive-produced. She released the song Let Me Move You for it. In October 2020 she starred in the Disney+ film Clouds, based on the life of Zach Sobiech. Emergency, from Amazon Studios, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2022 and reached audiences that May.

  The stage gave her a stranger story. In 2016 she appeared at the Pasadena Playhouse in Peter Pan and Tinker Bell: A Pirate's Christmas. In March 2020 she made her Broadway debut as Cady Heron in Mean Girls. She performed in only two performances. The COVID-19 pandemic shut Broadway down the day after her debut, and the show never reopened.

  Television came back around later. Carpenter has both hosted and been the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. On the 6th of December 2024, Netflix released A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter, which she produced and starred in. It featured duets with Chappell Roan, Tyla and Shania Twain, among others. Its title matches a Christmas song she released in 2022, which she gathered onto the 2023 EP Fruitcake.

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• 5. The Island Records Era

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  In December 2020, Forbes placed Carpenter on its 30 Under 30 list in the Hollywood and entertainment category. The following month she announced that she had signed to Universal Music Group's Island Records. Her first single for the label, Skin, came out on the 22nd of January 2021. It peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 33 on the Billboard Global 200, her first entry on either chart.

  Skinny Dipping, released on the 9th of September 2021, was the lead single for her fifth album. Fast Times followed on the 18th of February 2022. Emails I Can't Send arrived on the 15th of July 2022 and debuted at number 23 on the Billboard 200 with 18,000 album-equivalent units. The Emails I Can't Send Tour began that September.

  On tour, Carpenter began improvising new, suggestively worded endings for the song Nonsense. Clips spread on TikTok, and the song went viral. It peaked at number 56 on the Hot 100, was certified Platinum by the RIAA and reached the top 10 on the US Pop Airplay chart.

  Feather began as a bonus track on the March 2023 deluxe edition of the album. It became the final single that August, reaching number one on the US Pop Songs chart and number 21 on the Hot 100. She performed it at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show and on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

  The video, released in October 2023, drew polarized reactions for its violent imagery. It was filmed at the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York. The pastor apologized, saying he had not known what the video contained. Carpenter replied that advance permission had been granted, adding, "Jesus was a carpenter." Bishop Robert J. Brennan relieved the pastor of his administrative duties in the diocese and held a Mass of reparation to "restore the sanctity of this church". An investigation into the priest who granted permission turned up evidence that led to the indictment of New York City mayor Eric Adams.

  Throughout 2023 and 2024, Carpenter opened a number of Latin American, Australian and Singaporean shows on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. She released a cover of Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble as a Spotify special. She called the chance "a childhood dream come true" and described the crowd as "unlike any crowd I've ever played to before".

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• 6. A Record-Breaking Run

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  Espresso was released on the 11th of April 2024, and Carpenter played Coachella the next day. The song topped the Billboard Global 200 and peaked at number three on the Hot 100. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year. By year's end it was the second most streamed song of the year on Spotify, at 1.6 billion streams.

  Please Please Please followed on the 6th of June 2024. It became her second global chart-topper and her first number one on the US Hot 100. With the two songs together, she became the first female artist to hold the top two positions on the UK singles chart for three weeks in a row.

  Short n' Sweet came out on the 23rd of August 2024 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 362,000 units sold in its first week. Every track charted in the top 50 of the Hot 100. A third single, Taste, debuted at number two. That made Carpenter the first act since the Beatles to chart their first three top-five hits in a single week. The first three singles held top-ten positions for seven consecutive weeks, a record for a female artist. She also became the first artist in 71 years to spend 20 weeks atop the UK singles chart in a calendar year.

  At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, she earned six nominations, including Best New Artist, and was nominated in all four of the biggest categories. Short n' Sweet won Best Pop Vocal Album, and Espresso won Best Pop Solo Performance. A deluxe edition with five added tracks, including a duet of Please Please Please with Dolly Parton, came out on the 14th of February 2025. The Short n' Sweet Tour, her first arena tour, began in September 2024.

  Manchild, released on the 5th of June 2025, debuted at number one on the Hot 100. She first performed it at Primavera Sound 2025 and then at BST Hyde Park. Her seventh album, Man's Best Friend, followed on the 29th of August 2025. Its cover art, which shows her on her hands and knees while an unseen man grabs her hair, divided critics and fans. Some found it degrading to women, while others read it as provocative and satirical. The album debuted at number one with 366,000 units. That was the highest-selling week for an album by a female artist in 2025 and the third highest for any album that year.

  In August 2025, she headlined Lollapalooza in Chicago, joined by Earth, Wind & Fire. On the 3rd of October 2025, she appeared on the title track of Taylor Swift's album The Life of a Showgirl. That month she headlined the Austin City Limits Music Festival, performing with Shania Twain and the Chicks. Her 2026 festival slate included Lollapalooza Chile, Brazil and Argentina, Asunciónico, Festival Estéreo Picnic and Coachella. During her second Coachella weekend, Madonna joined her to debut their duet Bring Your Love, from Madonna's upcoming album Confessions II. They also performed Vogue and Like a Prayer.

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• 7. Craft and Influences

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  Madonna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera were the voices that first introduced Carpenter to pop. She has named Aguilera and Rihanna as major musical influences and R&B as a genre that often shapes her work. Aguilera's 2002 song Beautiful, she has said, helped her "showcase and develop her own voice". For songwriting, she points to Taylor Swift and Lorde, and she draws inspiration from Beyonce's genre-bending records. Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Etta James were early influences. Critics often compare her music and image to those of Ariana Grande, whom she admires for her live shows and positivity.

  Early in her career, critics called her a teen pop singer. Writing in i-D, Barry Pierce said that after Emails I Can't Send she could rightfully claim the title of fully fledged popstar. Variety writer Thania Garcia described her move from child actor to pop star as slow, steady and intentional, after years of being seen as a Disney princess. Carpenter told Vogue that her earlier music showed a side of herself she did not feel was authentic at the time. She told Variety in 2024 that she felt separated from the albums made before Emails I Can't Send, because who she was had shifted between before and after the pandemic.

  Her albums mix pop, dance and R&B with touches of folk-pop, acoustic, country, electropop and house. Her later albums have moved into dance-pop, trap and hip-hop. Her voice has been described as a soprano. Critics have also noted storytelling as a recurring thread in her songs.

  Carpenter has co-written most of her songs, with sole lyricist credits on two tracks of Emails I Can't Send. She usually begins with a title and builds from there, recording her own life experiences in a confessional way. Of that album she said she hoped a first-time listener would finish it feeling they knew her better as a person.

  Producer Jack Antonoff worked with her on Short n' Sweet. He praised the humor she weaves into her songs and named ABBA as a reference point for her. On the song Sharpest Tool, he worked only on the music while she handled the lyrics. She also worked on the compositions of Espresso and Please Please Please. She plays piano, bass, ukulele, guitar and drums. She played guitar during her Short n' Sweet Tour sets, and piano and electric guitar at her 2024 Coachella set.

  In September 2024, she duetted with Aguilera on What a Girl Wants for a Spotify-exclusive special marking the 25th anniversary of Aguilera's debut album. That performance was later nominated for a Webby Award.

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• 8. Causes and Brands

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  In 2016, Carpenter became an ambassador for the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and visited children's hospitals for it. That year she released merchandise for her single Smoke and Fire, with proceeds going to the American Red Cross's 2Steps2Minutes fire-safety campaign. In 2017 she performed at We Day California and joined DoSomething's Love Letters Challenge, which aimed to ease isolation among senior citizens.

  In 2018, she helped write a love letter to the LGBTQ+ community for Billboard. In it she said she hoped fans who bring pride flags to her shows feel "an overwhelming rush of love and safety." In April 2020 she appeared on a charity version of If the World Was Ending, which supported Doctors Without Borders during the pandemic.

  The Sabrina Carpenter Fund grew out of a partnership with the nonprofit PLUS1 on the Short n' Sweet Tour. It focuses on mental health, animal welfare and the LGBTQ+ community. The fund took $1 from every tour ticket sold and reached $1 million faster than any other artist PLUS1 had worked with. Half the earnings from her 2024 espresso-flavored ice cream collaboration with Van Leeuwen went to the Ali Forney Center, which supports homeless LGBTQ+ youth. Her partnership with HeadCount produced more voter engagements for the 2024 US presidential election than any other artist's.

  In December 2025, the White House used a snippet of her song Juno in a video promoting ICE on X. She replied that the video was "evil and disgusting" and told them never to involve her or her music in what she called their "inhumane agenda." The White House refused to apologize. Quoting her song Manchild, it said anyone defending the people it deports "must be stupid, or is it slow?" Shortly afterward, it deleted the post she had answered.

  Commercial deals run just as long a list. Converse's Forever Chuck campaign in 2017 featured her alongside Rowan Blanchard, Alton Mason and Cole Sprouse. She became a brand ambassador for Aeropostale in 2018 and for Samsung USA in 2021. Her first fragrance, Sweet Tooth, launched in September 2022 with Scent Beauty and was a finalist for Fragrance of the Year. Caramel Dream followed in 2023, and Cherry Baby was announced in July 2024.

  In April 2024, she modeled for Skims. That July she appeared in an NBC advertisement for the 2024 Summer Olympics. In December 2024, Dunkin' Donuts released an iced drink named Sabrina's Brown Sugar Shakin' Espresso. Fortnite built Season 8 of Fortnite Festival around her skin in April 2025. In October 2025, she recorded public service announcements for the New York City subway system run by MTA New York City Transit.

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