“Hey, manchild, get in. We’re speaking Sabrina Carpenter.” So “Manchild” is the primary single from the following Sabrina Carpenter album, which is named “Man’s Greatest Pal.” “Manchild” could be very a lot channeling the spirit of Dolly Parton. She’s taking a visit to Dollywood. It has an amazing, ribald humorousness and it’s additionally self-lacerating. The tune is straight focused to somebody who has let her down time and time once more. This tends to come back up loads in Sabrina Carpenter’s music. These males who, you already know, they’re himbos. They’re enticing, however possibly just a little empty on the within. She’s indicting them on this tune and a number of her finest music. However actually, she’s indicting herself. One factor that Sabrina has performed so nicely over the past yr and a half is restore a form of playful sexuality to pop. You see it in her songwriting. You see it in her stay performances. That is somebody who’s not working away from that aspect of what pop music was. It feels very ‘80s to me in that method. The opposite factor that feels very ‘80s to me is, after all, the manufacturing. I’m listening to a number of “Bodily” by Olivia Newton-John. “Let’s get into bodily. Let me hear your physique discuss.” It feels form of like a Jazzercise nation tune. On her final album, “Brief n’ Candy,” she actually was working in two totally different modes. On the one hand, you had this extravagant dance pop. Felt very large tent. [SABRINA CARPENTER, ‘ESPRESSO’] “Espresso,” after all, as her breakout single, threatened to maintain her in that field. However then there was the opposite aspect, which had been smaller songs, extra confessional songwriting. And it’s in these songs that I felt that Sabrina’s character actually got here to the fore. What I like a lot about “Manchild” is it’s a number of that sort of tune with a few of the pep and power of her dance file. “Amen!” After “Espresso” got here out, on “Popcast,” I could have referred to Sabrina Carpenter as — Dupe-A-Lipa. I confess I used to be fallacious. Forgive me, Sabrina, for I’ve sinned. It’s clear that Sabrina is likely one of the signature pop stars of this period. It’s clear she has her personal perspective, and it’s clear that she will’t be copied.