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.

As others have said OP Taylor swift etc was never targeted at ‘young girls’ they just seemed to jump on the bandwagon because most of her songs are catchy.

I think you’re overthinking this. Every generation has something that the older generation thinks is too far. I’m mid 30’s and I remember my mum thinking the Bloodhound Gang and 50 Cent’s Candy shop wasn’t suitable for the radio!

I don't think she's sexy or beautiful. She has an irritating voice and persona and a massive head. I turn over or off whenever I hear her.

Too sexy for what?

This hits the nail on the head - it’s meant to be very wink wink nudge nudge, that’s why the lyrics are all double entendre. It’s clever, in the same way some TS lyrics are.

The ad libs at the end of nonsense ‘Wembley you bloody wrecked me!’ were a key part of that tour - she changed it for every city and some were a bit cheeky, some referenced the city, some popular events.

If you don’t like it that’s fine, but it’s not really catered to you. And though she’s in lingerie, it is that mid century approach…she’s actually probably wearing a lot more clothes than a lot of pop stars in the last ten years!

of course they had scantily clad pop stores and dances back in the day, my point is I would’ve hoped things had improved – Sabrina‘s look is very Love Island to me and it detracts from some great songs.

You know what I'm going to stop engaging with you because if my eyes keep rolling back in my head from your faux outrage I'm going to get dizzy, pointing out someone flashing their vulva by crouching on stage and opening their legs as wide as possible is not misogyny you might need to actually look up the meaning of the word.
Parasocial relationships with celebs aren't healthy, she doesn't care that you're on a random website defending her honor.

My shirt

@KenAdams well quite

we’ve seen the claim that it’s empowering to pole dance

You try hanging upside down by one leg using only your strength and the friction between your skin and a 45mm diameter chrome-plated vertical cylinder. To get to the point where you can not only hold the tricks but also transition fluidly from one trick to the next requires a lot of strength, flexibility, and trust in your own body, and it's going from couch to having those three qualities that is empowering. High heels and crotch-flashing are strictly optional.

yeah yeah

Had to google her as hadn’t heard of her. I was expecting a Vanessa paradis or selina Gomez young looking type but she reminded me of Lucy out of Dallas. Looks very dated to me but of course will not be to the younger generation .

I've just had to google her (no clue who she is) apparently she's been making music since 2014!
If she's only making noise now it'll be the dressing like a baby doll whilst acting like a dirty bitch; Dry humping anything that moves. Men dig that didn't you know?

It’s because before now she was a Disney channel star you weirdo.

I've been trying to work out what's not sitting right with me with this thread and realising it's that people are implying that SC is somehow paedo bait. She's 25 years old. She's not dressing like a child or acting like a child. Her height has even been mentioned which she has no control over and she doesn't wear more makeup than someone like lady gaga.

Everyone talking about her being for the male gaze clearly hasn't really engaged with Sabrina's music/whole brand and doesn't really get it.

All the talk about sex comes from a place of her enjoyment. It's claiming sex and centering her enjoyment in it. Girls get horny too and she owns it and turns it into something funny and tongue in cheek. Talking about being 'wrecked' or feeling it in her kidney has the same vibe as when you de-brief with your friends after a night out, or text the girls group chat after sleeping with a new guy for the first time. It's having a laugh about it with your friends.

Her whole tour is described as having a sleepover vibe. It embraces having fun together, dressing up and doing makeovers, having a good gossip. All things that girls are made fun of for being 'vapid and too girly'. She enjoys it, embraces it and lets others not feel embarrassed to enjoy it too.

In interviews she's known for being funny, no bullshit and tongue in cheek. She takes the piss out of herself very well and is completely unserious.

Milan, New York and Japan

The marketing around her is insane. Her image on previous songs such as 'thumbs' is completely different (and better imo). It very much looks to be an act but I agree the poppy, bubblegum image is made to attract young girls but then it is loaded with overt sexual imagery. But as you say, none of this is new in the music industry.

I was not familiar with Sabrina til this thread, and have been looking at her videos and listening to her songs, and have to say I quite like her. Very cute girl/young woman. Her songs are catchy and she seems inoffensive.

She is a nepo baby. She's the niece of Nancy Cartwright from The Simpsons - who voices Bart. Not saying she wouldn't have made it without being Nancy's niece, but having an aunt in the entertainment industry probably helped.

Sabrina does write or co-write most of her own songs though. So yeah she is quite talented I think... I do like quite a few of her songs!

Bet you've never actually tried pole. All the haters haven't.

I agree. I can’t quite put my finger on why though. I grew up with Christina and Britney et al but there’s something about SC that makes me very uncomfortable. I think she’s really talented and very witty and I want to like her for that. I thought it was the male gaze thing that bothered me but it didn’t with others who seem very male gazey. I have no idea why SC feels more anti-feminist to me but she does, and I don’t like that I feel this way without being able to explain why.

Maybe it’s just your age ? You would have been a lot younger when Xtina and miley were having their overly sexy look at me phase, now you’re old enough to be the mother of an 18/19 year old. Just a thought.

Thank you for this thread OP, yes there is definitely something jarring about your 9 year old coming home singing things like 'she'll just have to taste you when he's kissing you' etc 😳 It hasn't come from home, so it's not our parenting issue.

Her whole tour is described as having a sleepover vibe. It embraces having fun together, dressing up and doing makeovers

This and touring with Taylor Swift, but she's not targeting tweens, riiiiiigghhht.

'Talking about being 'wrecked' or feeling it in her kidney has the same vibe as when you de-brief with your friends after a night out, or text the girls group chat after sleeping with a new guy for the first time'

This is so grim I don't know where to start...

Part of the ick though is the things she enjoys are submissive and very typically what a misogynistic male would like, being “wrecked”, “feeling it in your kidneys”, “being came on”. That’s not to say women can’t enjoy submissive sexual encounters but it can create a slippery slope for a younger audience to feel this is what is cool, acceptable and the done thing.

if she was singing about pegging, being on top or tying someone up it would still be overly sexual but have a completely different vibe (which makes me think more of Rihanna who has a dominant sexual vibe and still wears revealing clothing)

also a lot of people saying that the very young tween/teen audience are just a by product of her actual target audience. Well they might be a by product for her personally but not her management, they will be ensuring she appeals to as many age groups as possible regardless

@pawpatrollerr absolutely 👏🏻 yet more normalisation of porn culture for our tweens, let alone teens.

Just because some like minded individuals " thanked " your post you actually think that makes you right and other people with a different opinion wrong!!!
And you think because like minded people " thanked" your post people who don't agree with you should stop posting their opinions!
Unbelievable. A good case for MN withdrawing the react button altogether.

Fwiw I was looking at this thread because I heard about the furore about Carpenter simulating oral sex at the Brit awards.
I didn't know much about her apart from her simulating sexual positions in her live shows.
It's a sad day for women and women in the music industry when presenting yourself as a porn star is so normalised that parents actually take their young children to watch them perform.