Sabrina Carpenter studied and earned a master’s degree at the pop star school of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. The singer’s navigation of her breakout moment this year has put those lessons to good use. It shows in the autonomy present across her equally heartbroken and horny album Short n’ Sweet , but also in her handling of the criticism that has come with her unabashed embrace of her sexuality.
Aguilera and Spears weathered similar storms, though that hasn’t spared her from receiving the same backlash. “I definitely get that as well,” Carpenter told TIME in a recent interview. “Someone told me this, whenever I would get upset or feel like I’m the only one getting criticized for something other people are able to do seemingly so freely: I’m the one that’s seeing all the negative shit about myself.
My friends don’t see that.” Last week, Carpenter embarked on the Short n’ Sweet world tour. The show blends her latest release with standout songs from earlier in her catalogue.
Among them appears “Nonsense,” the pop hit that she used to tweak on tour to include a city-specific, winking innuendo at the very end. She switched it up for this tour, this time changing up the suggestive position she assumes during the album highlight “Juno,” asking: “Have you ever tried..
. this one?” The cherry on top is the giant “horny” graphic that flashes in bright pink during the song. “You’ll still get the occasional mother that has a strong .