Sabrina Carpenter Struts, Preens, and Sings While Sitting on a Toilet in Opening Night at Madison Square Garden: Concert Review

Seated demurely on a toilet with a heart-shaped lid, Sabrina Carpenter opened a ballad with the lyrics, "I’m looking for an answer in between the lines/ Lying to yourself if you think we’re fine." This moment, from the first of her five sold-out Madison Square Garden concerts on the "Short n’ Sweet" tour, was a quintessential example of her style. The stage, designed like a fusion of a 1970s television set and a Barbie dreamhouse, featured this bathroom area surrounded by gauzy screens projecting video close-ups. The song, "Sharpest Tool," is a comical yet earnest take on being in love with a foolish man, thematically following her previous smash hit, "Please Please Please." While many top pop stars possess self-awareness and humor, few would deliver a heartfelt performance from a porcelain throne, making this a uniquely Carpenter move that refreshes familiar pop tropes.

The production, largely unchanged from her 2024 tour, is a vintage-TV-themed extravaganza complete with all the expected arena spectacle. Carpenter, a classic All-American blonde with a glamorous image, performed with eleven dancers and a four-piece band across various set pieces, including a balcony, staircases, a walk-in closet, and a vanity. She cycled through four sparkly, leggy outfits and strategically deployed her biggest hits, focusing on her two most recent albums, "Short n’ Sweet" and "Man’s Best Friend," with a few selections from 2022's "Emails I Can’t Send"—the album that marked her debut as a post-Disney adult artist. The setlist included opener "Taste," "Manchild," "Feather," and "Bed Chem," which featured an overhead video of her lounging on a bed, and concluded with a confetti-drenched "Espresso."

Her musical sophistication is evident in her influences; the pre-show music featured ABBA's 1979 deep cut "If It Wasn’t for the Nights" and Diana Ross's 1980 Chic-produced anthem "I’m Coming Out," the latter also a nod to her substantial LGBTQ following. The show was punctuated by mock-70s TV commercials, like a fake ad for "The Sharpest Tool, trusted by carpenters everywhere," and even a curious clip of Leonard Cohen comparing poetry to "shining the shoes of one’s soul." As music critic Dr. Anya Sharma notes, "Carpenter's use of nostalgic, pre-digital era aesthetics creates a fascinating dissonance with her hyper-modern lyrical content, allowing her to build a brand that feels both timeless and entirely of the moment."

Despite the vintage references being decades removed from her core audience's lived experience, Carpenter's most powerful connection was with the crowd itself. Her fanbase is largely composed of young girls, many experiencing their first concert, often accompanied by mothers who are also fans. It created a surreal scene when she led thousands of middle-school-aged girls in shouting "I’m so fucking horny!" during the song "Juno," acting as a Judy Blume-esque big sister who discusses relationships and sex with refreshing candor. She masterfully engaged the audience with familiar concert tropes—city shout-outs, jump counts, and scream competitions—but also with genuine, lengthy monologues. In a particularly touching moment, she spent time commending the audience's outfits, which often mirrored her own style of stacked heels, sparkles, and lipstick kisses.

From Cher and Madonna to Beyoncé, female pop icons have consistently navigated the boundaries of sexual expression in music, often facing conservative backlash. Sabrina Carpenter is the latest to walk this fine line, blending irreverent, upfront songwriting with a glossy, radio-friendly pop sound and a crucial sense of humor. She manages to be both a relatable confidante for a young generation and a musically astute artist, proving that in the world of pop, authenticity and a well-timed wink can be the sharpest tools of all.