I swear I'm not a pearl clutcher but slightly shocked at the amount of little girls at the Sabrina concert

[Ethicaldebacle]

I was at Sabrina's concert at Hyde Park yesterday and a good segment of the audience were little girls think between 8-12). Not only are most of the lyrics not really age appropriate but many of them were wearing hot pants and make up. Even my teenage daughter (who I was accompanying) thought it was a bit odd. The show was very PG (and there was a parental guidance disclaimer), so at least she's aware of who listens to her music.

If you’re not a pearl clutcher what are you?

The “show was very PG”

enough said

Wait little girls like pop music?!

Even my teenage daughter (who I was accompanying) thought it was a bit odd.

the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

DD is 20 and saw the show a few months ago. Unless she's changed it, it's not PG unless simulated sex with the dancers is PG-rated. DD did say that most of the sex references went right over the heads of the smaller audience members.

Sabrina Carpenter made her name in wholesome Disney programmes and is now trying to shake off the Disney and appeal to grown ups. Parents with half a brain would be aware of that.

I was talking to my boss about a similar thing the other day. Girls seem to look a lot older than when I was little, but they are much much less mature (eg. Able to be left alone, cook a meal, be kind to others, handle friendships, look after animals, understand they are not the centre of the universe. Later: choose A levels and uni, get a job, work when they don't feel well etc etc). I may be an old crone (52) but I think there is something there. I remember what I was doing at 16, from a kind and loving family, and I was so much more independent.

Society changes and this is one change I have observed. I don't think the looking older is particularly bad (albeit I don't much like it) but the lack of maturity is a bit worrying.

She actually did change it. So no simulated sex, but there were obviously some sexual references

A friend of mine saw the show with her teenage daughter and thought it was too old for her. It’s very sexual (I’d call it sexually explicit) and not something for little girls.

I feel like this has always happened though. I certainly remember loving Madonna and singing along to Like a Virgin at 8 years old with absolutely zero clue of what a virgin even was.

I just came on to say exactly what @Fratolish said! I remember when I first heard it - she was on TOTP wearing a pink wig and my Dad looked up from his paper and said ‘what did she just say?!!’

“Like a virgin, touched for the very first time”

I recall singing this at the top of my voice as a very young girl in the early nineties

Also remember feeling uncomfortable at a school disco as a young adult in the late 90s when a group of 7 year olds were singing the Mousse T hit with the chorus "I'm horny, Horny, horny, horny".

I was too young for like a virgin, but I was old enough for the Sex book.

I remember that I thought "like a virgin" was a comparison to the virgin Mary

Yes me too, Like A Virgin was the first album I bought (on cassette) - with money earned singing in the church choir - and I just loved the songs and had no clue or interest in what she was actually singing about.

Same here, @tammienorrie singing "I'm horny, horny horny horny" as a kid. Maybe I thought it was about unicorns.

there’s no change at all in the misogyny you’re spouting.

Teenage girls cannot do anything right.
As ever.

Their interests are facile, they’re too grown up or not grown up enough, they’re not spending enough of their time on domestic or caring tasks, etc etc.

There really is nothing new under the sun.

Well I don't think it's any different to 8 year old me and friends dancing to Liberty X just a little. We made up a dance routine and everything. I cringe now but at the time we had no idea what the song was about.

So what

I think it’s depressing your pearl clutching is rubbing off on your young teen op

I was listening to the ABBA song ‘does your mother know’ the other day, never paid much attention to the lyrics till last week… wowzers!

Music has always been a bit edgy, I certainly sang some very dodgy lyrics in my childhood - Relax! anyone? It’s great for young girls to get out and see live music, and most of the sex stuff doesn’t connect in the way it does with adults. I remember seeing Grease as a 10 year old and then again as an adult - certainly not the happy, innocent high school movie I thought it was.

That’s her audience. Did you just feel a bit old?

I would have loved to be at one of the Sabrina Hyde Park shows. I think she's fabulous and we very sadly couldn't get tickets for any of her UK shows.
We were, however, fortunate enough to see the wonderful Olivia Rodrigo's Hyde Park show last week. It was a terrific show and a large proportion of the audience were pre-teen girls having the time of their lives, wearing home-made Olivia-themed outfits and so excited about seeing their idol, it was a great gig and the atmosphere was electric. There's a lot of swearing in Olivia's music but it didn't make me think for a moment that the kids shouldn't be there. Little girls are huge consumers of pop music. My own passionate life-long love affair with pop music began when I was very young and I think it would be a crying shame to exclude kids from pop shows. As other posters have said, adult content in pop music is nothing new and, in my opinion, chart pop has never been as good as it is now and the vast majority of today's best music is being made by female artists and consumed by a largely young female audience. Most of today's top female artists, Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, etc. write their own songs and play instruments and are very involved with every facet of their music, more so than was often the case in my childhood in the 90s and 2000s.

I was listening to the Spice Girls singing about putting a condom on during sex when I was 7 and I turned out fine.

I'm ten years younger than you and I totally agree.