Sabrina Carpenter’s trajectory has been steadily building her a place as one of the most crossover-friendly artists in pop, which has perhaps made discussions of a future Super Bowl halftime performance feel less fanciful and more inevitable in recent years. Asked about the possibility, Carpenter was, as usual, down-to-earth and lighthearted: “Maybe one day! I gotta write a few more albums first.”
While she has been a fixture among young audiences since 2014-2017 as Maya Hart in Disney’s Girl Meets World, she has been steadily expanding her film resume with a string of roles in a variety of productions, including Adventures in Babysitting (2016), The Hate U Give (2018), and Tall Girl (2019), in which she again played a starring role in Tall Girl 2 (2022). In addition, she has appeared in more low-key dramas such as The Short History of Long Road (2019) and Clouds (2020), as well as more action-oriented fare in Emergency (2022) and Into the Deep Blue.
She insists the timing must feel right
Musically, Carpenter’s development has been just as impressive. Despite leaving this year’s Grammy Awards empty-handed, Carpenter’s performance of “Manchild” instantly became one of the biggest talking points of the evening. The song placed the performer in a fantastical airport baggage claim area, where she wore an airline pilot outfit. Speaking to Rolling Stone about the inspiration for the number, Carpenter said simply, “Relationships come with lots of baggage, and the song tells the story of many relationships gone wrong. I also wanted to wear the captain hat.” The metaphor worked, taking a quirky choice for a performance number and making it a narrative choice.
The Rolling Stone interview also functioned as a promotional tool for Carpenter’s role in a Pringles ad during the Super Bowl, where she playfully constructs a boyfriend from Pringles chips. When the Pringle Leo inevitably falls apart and is eaten by a friend, the absurdity of the situation is matched by the self-awareness of the situation. When asked what snack her next boyfriend might be, Carpenter joked, “Can I choose a liquid man? Yerba mate for sure,” she says. “Think of the energy he would have!” While Carpenter has a long list of credits to her name, a pop sound that is becoming increasingly legitimate, and a knack for being at the center of pop culture, the teaser for a possible Super Bowl performance seems to be less a case of wishful thinking and more a matter of patience. If the big game ever calls, Carpenter seems willing to wait until albums are released first and the spectacle follows.
