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.

It's bog-standard male-gaze shit so the gays can go yassss qweeen before her inevitable breakdown that the gossip media can lap up.

I agree op. Also not a prude but I saw her live earlier in the year when espresso had just come out and didn;t really know who she was. I thought it was a shame she has to be so overtly sexual just to be a star. My older teen daughter also agreed. I think Madonna was more pushing boundaries in the 80's/ 90s, breaking various taboos, but Sabina feels more like she's from the Carry On School!

https://www.reddit.com/r/CelebrityHAVEN/comments/1dczaqs/sabrina_carpenter/

Certainly looks like her and sounds like her.

Apologies for not having rtft but I agree, Sabrina is such an obvious little piece of totty/Disney princess. Ditto Ariana Grande. I like Sabrina's music so it makes me sad she has to market herself this way. Taylor has a much more relatable vibe, she's glam and pretty, sure, but doesn't look as if she's made of plastic in a sex-toy factory

I can't see safety shorts really working on stage unless the band is The Village People.

Bit different from the ones used by performers and dancers theirs tends to be a bit tighter. They're usually used with very short costumes to make sure you don't end up flashing minors and unconsenting adults your genitalia.

or Tove Lo

I remember when Pink became big nearly 20 years. There was complaints about her concert that parents had leave with their children. Her shows have never target children.

reminds me a bit of Debbie Mcgee

Popstars in general seem to have this thing now where their stage outfits are leotards with sequins. Taylor, Sabrina, Arianna, even pink! It's a very boring and unimaginative costume.

'Popstars in general seem to have this thing now where their stage outfits are leotards with sequins.'

'cept if they're blokes, obviously. With the exception of Sam Smith. Although I don' t think I've seen Sam in a leotard. Yet.

Oh trust me, I wish a leotard is all I saw Sam Smith in... seeing him in fishnets and a thong bending over is something I'll never unsee and I'm still traumatised by the image 🥺

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

She made a lewd BBC joke.

That’s stage clothing you absolute perve.

Had to Google her but she looks very inoffensive and quite wholesome. Not exuding sexuality. It's just stagewear.

I wouldn't describe simulating sex positions on stage as "wholesome".

@PuddlesPityParty why are you calling @BloodandGlitter an "absolute perve"?

Was it not them who said the fact that the wears very small pants which clearly show the outline of her vulva is not really appropriate?

She then showed a video which demonstrates this.

How is the fact that it's "stage clothing" making @BloodandGlitter a perve? And how does that somehow make it ok?

Personally I think it's a bit much, stage clothing or not.

I didn’t know who Debbie Harry is but from a Google there’s pictures of her in pretty much the same stage clothing, underwear showing and all.
very rose tinted glasses to be like oh there was more to the pop stars when I grew up even though they did the exact same thing.

love Sabrina and her retro glam look, but she’s not doing anything so outrageous that hasn’t been done a million times before by even the old popstars listed that are apparently different.

'I didn’t know who Debbie Harry is....'

If you don't know who she is you won't get that there was a very different vibe to Sabrina.

It does feel “it wasn’t like this in my day” when she’s wearing very similar clothing in the pictures. The vibes for Sabrina are very different to a lot of what people are saying on here too, mean girl, just outrageous etc, I’m a huge fan and watch lots of her interviews etc I don’t get any of the “vibes” of her being mean girl, or marketed towards children, only for the male gaze etc.

Because they are being! They’re coming on here making disgusting comments. Sorry but their language and attitude is not okay!!

Whoever doesn’t know who Debbie Harry is… makes me feel so old.
Just watched an old Top of the Pops from 1989 - Wendy James from Transvision Vamp, how I admired her.
Claudia Winkleman says she inspired her heavy eyeliner/pale lipstick.
As I was a tall, lanky, brunette, frizzy-haired teen, I knew Wendy was my polar opposite.
She did enjoy the male gaze, I think, but she was also really intelligent and full of humour.

'The vibes for Sabrina are very different to a lot of what people are saying on here too, mean girl, just outrageous etc'

The vibes compared to Debbie Harry are very different though. Debby Harry wasn't fan-girled by tweens and younger teens. I certainly didn't suggest Sabrina is a 'mean girl', but we're back to female empowerment, and some suggesting that wearing skimpy clothes and writhing about on a stage is empowering for women. It really isn't. I remember when pole dancing and burlesque became a thing, and the female empowerment trope surrounding that. Again, you rarely see male pop stars behaving in a similar fashion.

Adults can watch/listen to anything they please, but 10 year old grinding about in the playground singing highly sexual used lyrics? Not something I'm happy to see. 🙁

If you don't think Sabrina is intelligent and funny, you haven't watched her videos. I bet when you were in your teens and twenties, people were saying the same about Debbie Harry and Wendy James, that they are shameless and not wearing enough clothes etc.. Pop stars haven't changed, so if you've become the one criticising them for their clothes and attitude, it's probably that you've got old and cranky.

Good Lord. 🤦‍♀️