Sabrina Carpenter makes stunning debut at Madison Square Garden

It’s Sunday evening in Manhattan, and someone is working long hours. They stand about 5 feet tall and sit above a heart-shaped toilet in the most sensual Barbie dream house you’ve ever seen. He was wearing a black lace jumpsuit that would upset Sandy Fat To their shame, they’re about to sing about an ex who wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. But first the bathroom needs to be cleaned up. They casually wipe down the toilet before taking a seat. “Gross,“, they murmur.

If you think it’s strange for a pop star to appear on stage at her Madison Square Garden debut, you haven’t been paying attention to Sabrina Carpenter. She was a crucial force in the pop girl summer of 2024 alongside Charli Joint smoked.

Instead, she’s the secret bitch, the lovable, reserved weirdo who made out with an alien at the VMAs and whose huge hit was a nonsensical nu-disco song about coffee. (“Espresso” had a huge impact, including the sweet relief it provided to baristas who had endured years of customers pronouncing it “Expresso.”) And the bathroom moment was just one of many crazy highlights at the Garden. She even referenced the recent news that one of her video shoots may have indirectly contributed to the Mayor Eric Adams scandals. She did so after a rendition of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia,” which she covered in a game of spin the bottle. Classic Sabrina stuff again. “Damn, what now?” she asked. “Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?”

The night was all about celebrating Carpenter’s rise to fame, starting with her role as Shawn Hunter in the Disney spinoff Girl meets world until a few days ago, when their new album was released Short and sweet was certified platinum. Selena Gomez was there, as were hundreds of teenage Sabrina lookalikes in miniskirts, platform boots and bows in their hair. There was a lot There was loud shouting and, ironically, the Garden’s guest services booth was temporarily out of earplugs. It’s officially fall, but as her friend Taylor Swift recently said, “The summer of Sabrina, and may it continue forever.”

The secret ingredient to Short and sweet Tour is the element of nostalgia. The Dreamhouse setup doubles as the set of a vintage television show, introducing its young fanbase to the ’60s (you just know they’d love the Wonders’ TV moment). What you do!). The stage setup is complete with cameras, a narrator, and fake commercials and segments that appear on the screen between acts. Do you want a hip carpenter who promotes sharp tools? You got it. An ad for “Please Please Please” ceiling fans? She has that too.

So it’s no surprise that the evening began with a video of Carpenter in a bubble bath, completely shocked when the narrator tells her this Short and sweet The show begins at the moment. She storms onto the stage, wrapped in a bath towel, and appears between two shiny white stairs. She removes the towel to reveal a sparkly babydoll nightgown with suspenders. This is her fourth show on the tour, so we’ve seen a baby blue dress and a pink dress – but tonight we’re getting butter yellow.

She started sharpening Short and sweet Opener “Taste”, flanked by dancers. Rumor has it that the song is about a love triangle between Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, but all of that is secondary to her killer performance here. She sat at a shiny dressing table and stared into the mirror. “I feel like I’m watching a Broadway show,” said a girl behind me.

She tackled album highlight “Good Graces” before calling the dolly and grabbing an acoustic guitar for the gem “Lie to Girls” (if you believe it was a coincidence – no pun intended – that “9 to 5 “ was played). Think about it again before the show). Carpenter has tackled multiple genres Short and sweetand she shows them all off effortlessly on this tour by wrapping them in a cohesive bow – one that’s most likely made of silk and studded with diamonds.

It’s almost impossible to read anything about Carpenter that doesn’t include the word “horny,” which she even printed on custom tights during her Sept. 25 show in Toronto. She has made it her entire brand, from the tour’s sexy slumber party theme to the numerous sex-positive lyrics in her songs. That brings us to “Bad Chem,” which she performs in a heart-shaped silk bed, her powerful vocals delivering each line. “And I bet we’d both arrive at the same time/And I bet the thermostat’s set at six-nine,” she sings. (If it ends with her silhouetted and a dancer pretending to undress behind a curtain, I can’t imagine Mr. Feeny would approve.)

The “Nonsense” outros are gone, but she still ran through popular tunes from 2022 Emails I can’t sendincluding “Because I Liked a Boy,” her witty take on the media frenzy between Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, and the deluxe edition’s breezy disco-pop stomper “Feather.” This is the video she filmed at the now infamous Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Brooklyn that may have played a role in the Adams investigation. She capped off the song with a joke: “I play at MSG and you don’t!”

Carpenter cleverly introduced her band with an ’80s TV theme titled Sabrina after darkTheir names appeared against a glittering city backdrop as she changed her outfit backstage. Later, the host gave us a summary: “Sabrina serenaded us by the fire! She sang us a song on the toilet! Next, the party continues. But first, get your tissues ready because we have some hot ballads in store!”

And we certainly needed those tissues, especially when she introduced “Dumb & Poetic” with a clip from a 1966 interview by Leonard Cohen for the CBC, in which the late icon compares poetry to instructions on a shoe polish can. That’s fitting, as the title evokes a guy riffing on Cohen’s lyrics, but you better believe that Carpenter’s fans were genuinely confused by the black-and-white video and were probably wondering who this man was. By Dua Lipa Radical optimism to Kacey Musgraves Deeper wellThe rise of wellness has also made its way into music this year, often to a disappointing extent. “Dumb & Poetic” is the antidote to this trend, in which Carpenter pokes fun at men who meditate and take mushrooms. We are so lucky to have her.

We already knew that Carpenter was really, really funny, but her humor is more evident than ever on this tour and usually comes through in her onstage banter. She joked about how great New York water tasted and playfully told the crowd, “Shut up!” when they wouldn’t calm down. “I have to write this album Short and sweet by just having a big damn laugh with my friends,” she told the crowd. “And now everyone is in the room, laughing with their friends. Hopefully we can continue like this.”

It’s always a surreal moment to witness the arrival of a pop star, and a debut at Madison Square Garden is always on the wish list – for the artist and his loyal fans. The Dunkin’ Donuts in the venue strangely doesn’t sell donuts, but luckily there’s plenty of coffee. And on one wall hang artifacts from Marilyn Monroe’s birthday performance for JFK in 1962, which took place right here in the garden. It’s perfect considering Carpenter just sported a Monroe hairstyle at the VMAs (while also wearing one of Madonna’s dresses).

If we have one criticism, it’s that this performance didn’t get its own unique cover – Carpenter already sang “Mamma Mia” at the tour opener in Columbus, and it’s a shame she didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to talk about one New York cover to report. specific song. But regardless, she made sure to emphasize how much the evening meant to her.

“I’m so fascinated by New York City,” she said. “This is like a home for me. The first time I played in New York City I think I was 16 and it was at the Highline Ballroom. That was all of you not There. All my life I’ve always wanted to play Madison Square Garden, but I wasn’t sure if my first performance would be in front of a sold-out crowd. Thank you very much.” The joy is ours.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Madison Square Garden setlist
“Taste good”
“Good graces”
“Slim Pickins”
“Tornado Warnings”
“lying to girls”
“Decode”
“Bed chemistry”
“Feather”
“Fast times”
“Read your mind”
“Sharpest tool”
“Opposite”
“Because I liked a boy”
“Coincidence”
“Mamma Mia”
“Nonsense”
“Stupid and poetic”
“Juno”
“Please, please, please”
“Don’t smile”
“Espresso”