After trying for half of her life, Sabrina Carpenter is finally having a moment.
For the past seven weeks, she’s claimed three songs in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, the longest streak ever for a woman and not too far off from champions 50 Cent (11 weeks in 2005), the Beatles (10 weeks in 1964) and Justin Bieber (10 weeks in 2016).
After serving as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” in May, her inescapable hit “Espresso” was cleverly parodied by host Ariana Grande on Saturday’s episode. (The 25-year-old Carpenter reposted the clip on Instagram with several heart emojis.) Social media and the gossip press breathlessly cover her every move, outfit and date. Her sixth record “Short n’ Sweet” earned rave reviews and stands as the second-longest running No. 1 album of the year behind Taylor Swift, an obvious influence.
By all measures, the former Disney Channel star’s career is the hottest it’s ever been since she began acting at the age of 12. So it was a surprise to hear her tour was not providing local critics with tickets, nor allowing press photographers to cover her totally and completely sold out Monday night concert at Minneapolis’ Target Center. (Scalpers were getting $500 for the worst seats in the house.)
What is Carpenter trying to hide?
After watching her 85 minute performance, it’s not immediately clear. She has earned some negative buzz about the skimpy run time, although the set list was solely drawn from her first adult album (2022’s “Emails I Can’t Send”) and her new one, with which the tour shares its name. (Truth in advertising!)
Perhaps it was because Carpenter has consciously moved away from teen-friendly pop of her early days into a more explicit, sexually charged mode. Yet she still has a significant number of young fans. A trio of what looked to be grade schoolers were sitting in front of me Monday night and it was, uh, odd to see them singing along to Carpenter’s steamy single “Bed Chem,” which was introduced on stage with a “parental discretion is advised” notice on the big screens and ended with a muscular cameraman stripping off his shirt and Carpenter climbing on top of him.
Whatever the case, Carpenter proved to be a solid live performer with an excellent grasp on how she wants to present herself to the world. Her extremely choreographed show was modeled after a ’70s television variety show taking place at a slumber party.
Carpenter opened the show wearing what looked to be just a bath towel until she opened it to reveal a sparkly leotard and garters, the first of numerous outfits she’d wear during the evening. From there, she bounced between her two most recent albums, with the “Short n’ Sweet” numbers getting the bigger response. (The laid-back album is synth pop but not really dance music. At times it’s vaguely reminiscent of ’80s Fleetwood Mac.)
On “Espresso” as well as much of the new album, Carpenter sings in more of a hushed whisper. But live, she proved she’s got a big voice when she chooses to use it, as she did during “Fast Times” and “Read Your Mind.”
At one point she took to the heart shaped tip of a catwalk that extended out from her stage. The heart sunk down to create a conversation pit where her backup dancers joined her for “Coincidence” and her nightly surprise cover song chosen by Carpenter spinning a bottle. Madonna’s “Material Girl” was Monday’s winner and just in case the crowd didn’t know it, the words appeared on the big screens, karaoke style.
I can’t help but wonder how many of the Zoomers in the audience got the references to ’70s variety shows, analog TV and, well, conversation pits. But Carpenter proved to be a charming enough performer that it didn’t matter if they did or not.
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