Sabrina Carpenter Says 'I'm Dealing With a Lot of Stuff' While Opening Up About Life as a Pop Star
Sabrina Carpenter is opening up about life as a pop star.
The 26-year-old “House Tour” singer got candid in conversation with Marc Jacobs for Perfect Magazine‘s latest cover story, out now.
During the conversation, she addressed her on-stage versus off-stage persona, being in control of her career, life before and after “Espresso,” input from the queer community, and much more.
Keep reading to find out more…
On expectations of pop stardom versus the reality of how it turned out:
“When I’m on stage, there’s a button. I think it’s been this way ever since I was young. I started touring when I was 16 years old, and I’ve always felt that there’s a button that turns on when you’re performing. And when you’re singing these songs, whether these songs be your personal stories or songs you wrote about other people, in that moment it really becomes a show. I’ve always been able to differentiate when I get off stage. I am a human being. I’m a 26-year-old girl. I’m hormonal. I’m emotional. I’m dealing with a lot of stuff. For me, it really just has been compartmentalising the moments where I feel like the show must go on and then moments where I can really allow myself to be a little all over the place and allow that to be OK. But the way I see it, I think, versus the way other people see it is different, so I have to remind myself that.”
On what she’s like off-stage:
“For all creatives, I think. The button that I’m talking about isn’t an entirely different human. I think it really is just that you surrender yourself a little bit more to the playfulness and the make-believe of what we’re doing. When I’m on stage, my shows are very, very pop star. There’s a lot of sparkles. There’s a lot of smiling. There’s a lot of clapping and dancing, and it feels as silly as it sounds. So I think part of me needs to channel a version of myself that maybe doesn’t take it all so seriously. But then when I’m off stage, I’m a little more locked in. I’m more of the businesswoman. I’m a little bit more of the person that’s building it. A carpenter, if you will. I’m definitely figuring out how to keep those pieces of myself separate so that when they collide, it feels a little bit healthier, if that makes sense.”
On how much control she has over her career:
“It’s changed in the last five years. Back in 2021, I signed with Island Records. That was the beginning of everything shifting and me feeling really in control of what I was doing. Everything you just said – the videos, the covers, the merch, the tour especially – it’s all something that clicked one day, and I just realized, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what makes it feel special and uniquely myself. It’s me running the show.’ It’s a lot more hats to wear and a lot more jobs to do, but it’s those little changes that if I was doing it with someone who was directing me on what to do, it wouldn’t feel so personal to me. I work with my sister a lot. She has been my creative partner with pretty much everything I do. We kind of share a brain. She’s just got such an amazing creative eye. She’s a great photographer. She just has incredible taste. We’ve been best friends our whole lives, so she knows me better than anyone.”
On the queer community:
“I don’t think pop music would exist if it wasn’t for the queer community. I don’t think some of our greatest pop stars would exist if it wasn’t for the queer community. I feel so deeply connected. I mean, some of my greatest friends and collaborators and artists that I know are a part of the queer community or are just so celebratory of it, and I feel like my tour would’ve been a lot less fun if it wasn’t for them. I feel so connected and grateful to be able to have them be a part of my journey, to be a part of the world.”
On how “Espresso” changed her life:
“It does sound like a funny question. When I think about one thing changing my life, it seems silly. It had to be 20 things before that and 20 things after that. There’s so many moments that lead up to something that resonates with people. Then the moments after are really important as well. I think, honestly, the tour I did in the last year, the Short n’ Sweet tour, I feel like that really, really changed my life. That was my first arena tour. It was the first time anyone got to really live with these songs and hear how they sound out loud. It was really the tour – and the fans. It’s mostly what they’ve done to change my life, which is existing, showing up. I owe it to them.”
If you missed it, she also just debuted the music video for “House Tour” with two other big stars.
For more from Sabrina Carpenter, head to ThePerfectMagazine.com.