Sabrina Carpenter - too sexy?

[pinotgrigeeeeo]

I'm late 30s, not really target audience for Sabrina Carpenter and was unaware of her existence until a few weeks ago, however for some reason my social media algorithm is bombarding me with her.

Anyway, I now know two of her songs and they are VERY catchy. Great pop songs.

She is undeniably beautiful.

However. Does anybody else feel a bit uncomfortable / surprised with the overt sexuality that she exudes?

And I don't know how else to put it without sounding like a prude. Because I'm really not a prude.

She dresses in lingerie a lot of the time. And at the end of one song I believe she says "do you know this position?" and each time she performs it she then enacts a different sexual position on stage.

The lyrics to some of her songs are very dirty. (Just heard one that's about a partner getting back with his ex and she sings that "now you'll have to taste me when he's kissing you").

This is nothing new to me. Genuinely not a prude.

So I'm not sure why I feel uncomfortable with her. It's possibly because she looks very young and I got them impression her music was targeted at young girls, similar to Taylor Swift.

She's not really doing anything that Madonna didn't....yet it just feels different.

I also feel Madonna was pushing boundaries. Those boundaries have no been pushed, and what SC is doing isn't new. So why do I find it noteworthy? I don't really know.

I can't put my finger on it.

Something about it seems quite dated to me. Females like Debbie Harry, Shirley Manson etc just seem a lot more fresh to me. They were sexy, but there was more to them. More to the music. Their sexuality wasn't so "in your face".

I don't have a problem with SC just doing pop music, as I've said, I actually like two of the songs.

I just can't put my finger on why the overt sexuality is bothering me. I think it must be because of who I perceive the target audience to be.

I've seen people comparing her to Dolly Parton, and whilst nobody has elaborated, I guess I can see the similarities in curvy, blonde, petite, confident. But there is something....dare I say it.....seedy about SC that Dolly just doesn't have.

Anyway, just musing. Wondering if anybody else feels similar or if I am just a miserable old bag these days.

I think the unnatural doll like look is down to the amount of (subtle) face tweaks she’s had. She didn’t always look like that.

I just googled. She has a wide face!

I think the comparisons to Dolly Parton aren’t just being blonde, but because they’re both doing a bit of a tongue in cheek performance of “womanhood” as perceived by the media- a bit like drag in a way. I’m not that into pop but can’t really get het up about lingerie and dirty lyrics anymore. We were all going around singing “I’m so horny horny horny horny” when I was a kid!

I don't think she looks anything like a child. Have you seen her figure?

I also don't think there's anything particualrly unusual about a beautiful woman who writes catchy songs appealing to teenagers and young adults. Don't most 16 year ollds wish they looked like that?

I quite like her songs but find her image very dated, it’s all a bit budget magicians assistant & it’s not sexy but cheesy to me. It’s better than Ariana's sexy toddler thing though.

I don’t think she’s trying to appeal to men, I thinks she’s a teenager interpretation of glamour/sexiness which is likely her market.

Just to be clear - THIS woman you think looks like a child?? In what universe?

Hollywood transformations are amazing.

Pics

Admittedly its been a while since i watched pop music videos but do male singers prance around in their underwear? Thrusting, gyrating, dry humping and hinting about, I dunno, stiffies, pre-cum and the best shaped vegetable for taking it up the arse?

Because female sexual empowerment looks an awful lot like typical male fantasy to this old woman's eyes.

My DDs are young teen and pre-teen and are fans of Sabrina Carpenter. I can't say I was too keen on her playboy bunny Halloween costume. It reminded me of early 2000s "feminism" reclaiming the bunny girl image whereas there was nothing pro-feminist about Hugh Hefner and Playboy.

I like Sabrina Carpenter and yes I do wish she’d cover up a bit more, but I’m more than old enough to be her mother. She’s a lovely looking girl (woman, but seems very girly).

This. I actually think we are going backwards and what are we teaching our young girls and daughters. That it's normal to look like a plastic sex doll with injectables in our face and oh it's so funny to brag about being physically hurt during sex.

I agree with pp who thinks SC is all about female gaze. She’s risqué and funny, yes she talks about sexuality but very much from the perspective of her sexual enjoyment, not a man’s.
I also think her hyper feminine fashion appeals more to women than men, she’s often head to toe in sparkly glitter, I don’t know many men who like that! Although appreciate there is a lingerie style too but I think that’s just where fashion is right now, it was popular in the 90s too.

It's the mixing of being very sexual and looking like a child. Playing up on the looking underage... ick

Madonna was half naked and very sexual but looked like a grown up woman.

I have literally no idea who Sabrina Carpenter is. Wouldn't know her if she was next to me in the queue in Aldi, and wouldn't know her songs/music.

I definitely know Taylor Swift though.

You would. She's the only person in Aldi in her under crackers... hopefully.

I agree about Playboy Bunnies. I listened to some podcasts they did and there was no female empowerment, they were often drugged or drunk and didn’t always consent to sexual acts. There was also a lot of psychological abuse.

We've had primary school girls in the playground singing her songs and dancing her dances. Not great, tbh. It gives girls the idea they have to look/dress/behave this way to be attractive and popular.

When you look at her outfits though they are more suggestive than actually being revealing,they aren't showing much more skin than Taylors bodysuits / which arent sexy at all.

I think if you go back and watch some Christina Aguilera videos or Thong song you'll see plenty of scantily clad women. Little Mix clothing was very revealing. Spice Girls 2Become 1 sang at the top of their voices by many a 10 year old in the 90s.

The difference is this seems to be entirely on her say so and she has designed a character and found a gap in the market. I bet if people say Sabrina out without her wig and makeup and in a pair of converse no one would recognize her, just like no one recognizes Dolly.

Perhaps try Olivia Rodrigo - she's the same age but with an Avril Lavigne sound.

Or Chappelle Roan is more Lady Gaga.

Oh me too! Kate Bush was singing about sex at nineteen but her writing skills were so mature and erudite (second time I’ve used that word today lol) I still listen to them today. Debbie Harry was sex on legs but never vulgar. I never appreciated Madonna’s overt sexuality as it always just seemed liked cynical marketing to me.

I get what you mean and have thought the same way. Sex sells and it underpins most pop idols - but for some reason it seems different with her. Again I also have nothing against her - but I think it’s because it’s almost like a formula with her rather than coming from her? Like she’s being coached on do X X and X = success? Which all pop stars are - maybe it’s a 6th sense it’s not the true her? With maddona it felt like it was the true her.

It’s not really a Hollywood transformation when you’ve used pictures of her as a child as a comparison.

@pinotgrigeeeeo don't listen to the charlie xcx remix with Billie Eilish Guess.

Catchy as fuck tho.

Or google Melanie Martinez. She actually has/had a whole doll shtick, complete with frilly socks.