Sabrina Carpenter is currently enjoying a meteoric rise thanks to her catchy pop tunes and captivating stage presence, and she returned to her Pennsylvania roots for a new interview.
The singer — who was born in Bucks County and grew up in Montgomery County — joined the latest episode of “CBS Sunday Morning” to discuss the success of her new album, “Short n’ Sweet,” and the accompanying stadium tour. For the interview, which premiered Sunday, she spoke with correspondent Tracy Smith at a rehearsal studio in rural Pennsylvania, not far from where she was raised.
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Carpenter was in Pennsylvania practicing her “Short n’ Sweet” tour, which stops in Philadelphia on Tuesday and features a concert stage fashioned to look like a “giant dollhouse.” She chose a rehearsal studio there in hopes of avoiding paparazzi, and said the state feels like home to her.
“The air is better, the water’s better, the bread’s better,” Carpenter said of Pennsylvania.
“Short n’ Sweet,” which was released in August, debuted at No. 1, with the first three singles from the album – “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste” – all hitting the top five of Billboard’s Hot 100 in the same week. The only other musical act to achieve this was the Beatles back in 1964. She also won the coveted Song of the Year award at last month’s MTV Video Music Awards, and was on the cover of Time Magazine for its TIME100 Next 2024 List edition. While Carpenter’s career has exploded recently, her success is more than a decade in the making.
Carpenter, 25, is one of four girls born to Elizabeth and David Carpenter, and she told Smith that her parents encouraged her love of performing early on.
“They never told me to stop singing,” Carpenter said. “And I think that psychologically, really probably helped me.”
As a tween, Carpenter began posting singing videos on YouTube — including a 2009 cover of “Picture to Burn” by Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour she opened for starting in 2023. At age 13, she earned a part in Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World,” a spinoff of the Philly-set ’90s sitcom, “Boy Meets World.” She continued making music as her acting career took off, and in 2020 was cast as the lead in Upper Darby native Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls” Broadway musical. But, the musical was quickly forced to shut down during the pandemic.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Sunday mornings are a mix of chaos and comfort. While some weekends find her rehearsing from dawn until dusk, her ideal Sunday involves cozying up at home with her pets and family. pic.twitter.com/VCzMEDoNef
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) October 6, 2024
“I rehearsed for about three months in New York, and we opened our first two nights, and then COVID humbled me – humbled me very quickly,” Carpenter told Smith. “I was sent home, and just was like, wow. I feel like I could do eight shows a week, you know, and I’ve been training for it. And now it’s just, like, silence.”
From that “silence” came Carpenter’s emotional, personal 2022 album, “Emails I Can’t Send,” which launched her to a new level of fame with hit songs like “Feather” and “Nonsense.”
Despite striving to keep her personal life private amid her rising stardom, Carpenter did give fans a cheeky glimpse at her year-long relationship with Irish actor Barry Keoghan over the summer when he was cast as her bad-boy love interest in the “Please Please Please” music video. She told Smith that the choice to cast Keoghan was due to his acting chops, which he has showed off in films like “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Saltburn.”
“I was like, ‘Who’s the greatest actor that I can find for this music video?’ And he was next to me in a chair,” Carpenter said of Keoghan. “And he was so excited about it, and he likes the song, which is great; he’s a fan of the song. He does like my music a lot.”
When it comes to the pressures of fame, Carpenter said her mom keeps her grounded and reminds her “not to take everything so seriously all the time.” She also said she tries to have fun with her career, and take sips of espresso when needed.
“There’s always gonna be stress, there’s always going to be anxiety, there’s always gonna be drama,” Carpenter said. “But for me, being able to laugh about it is really important. … And also caffeine. Because without caffeine, I wouldn’t be doing this interview right now.”
Carpenter’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview can be watched below.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
