Sabrina Carpenter's Comedy of Errors

"A big part of the singer's allure is the way that she ultimately shrugs off the crummy choices she makes while in the throes of lust, boredom, yearning, whatever; she aspires not to normie perfectionism but to something more hectic, funnier, looser, more bonkers. In the video for "Manchild," a hitchhiking Carpenter climbs in and out of a string of preposterous vehicles, including a sidecar fashioned from a shopping cart, a Jet Ski on wheels, and a motorized recliner."

"It's a warped, Surrealist vision of Americana: she uses a fork as a cigarette holder, shoots pool with a loaded shotgun, pulls a fried fish from a claw machine. "Fuck my liiiiiife," she coos on the chorus. The sentiment is relatable; desire is often a catastrophic force, obliterating our best intentions for ourselves. (One of her deranged paramours drives off a cliff after she climbs out of his car.)"

Earlier this summer, Sabrina Carpenter released "Manchild," the first single from her seventh album, Man's Best Friend. The song targets an immaturish man, with Carpenter sounding both rankled and coquettish heading into the chorus and blaming his mother in the second verse. Carpenter frequently shrugs off poor romantic choices while surrendering to lust, boredom, or yearning, favoring a hectic, funny, loose aesthetic over normie perfectionism. The "Manchild" video deploys surreal Americana—shopping-cart sidecar, Jet Ski on wheels, motorized recliner, absurd props—and the chorus includes the line "Fuck my liiiiiife." Willful denial and self-deception in romance recur across her work. Carpenter is twenty-six and has released music since 2014.

Read at The New Yorker