Sabrina Carpenter, turns out I CAN relate to desperation.
Back in June, I tried feverishly to get Sabrina Carpenter tickets all week the tickets were on sale, from the various pre-sales for teamSabrina, Spotify fans, etc and even gen sales but all with no luck because the re-sellers were too strong since she blew up this year. I saw her at the Governer’s Ball weeks before she announced her new tour and after attending my first music festival, decided that standing area festivals were not my jam. I need a seated venue concert so I didn’t have to worry about getting there early and fighting for a close up spot to be able to see her perform clearly and not through a recording on my phone. I felt defeated not being able to score tickets and didn’t want to give in to re-sellers because the price of tickets were insane but I told myself I’d look closer to the date in case the prices went down because people wanted to get rid of them. Someone also suggested trying the day of at the box office but my anxiety would not allow me to go into it with that much uncertainty.
Then August came and her new album dropped and I spent the entire weekend listening to it on repeat. It only intensified my anxiety but at the time I had my upcoming trips to keep me distracted for a bit. Then the week of the tour came and it was game over from the first night when all the videos of her performances hit social media and FOMO hit hard. I was also furiously mad dealing with a lot of unrelated but unnecessary rude drama while stressed the F out trying to plan a major event. It didn’t help but drove me over the edge into making further bad decisions and I ended up justifying buying these concert tickets as a Happy Birthday to me, bitch. I don’t go to these things often so I DESERVE THIS, OKAY?!
Backtrack to last year, during my NYC marathon training where it all started, I put my Spotify on shuffle for new suggestions for pop music and Sabrina Carpenter was suggested to me. Nonsense had me hooked and it hooked me into her album Emails I Can’t Send and eventually her entire catalogue. I had “This is Sabrina Carpenter” Spotify playlist on repeat and then went down a rabbit hole of the drama between her and Olivia Rodrigo for no damn reason other than I was just plain nosy. But in the end, I came out team Sabrina. I do listen to both artists but Sabrina just hits better. Then she turned up on my feed because she was opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour at some stops. And then she dropped a Christmas album. And then she was announced for the Governor’s Ball lineup. All of a sudden, she was everywhere and I couldn’t get enough of her cute little ass. I love the little kick she does when she performs Feather live. And her tongue in cheek outros for Nonsense personalized to each city she’s singing in. She radiated girly pop fun and her fashion was too cute to boot. I haven’t been this excited for a new artist in a while. I’m really picky about who I want to see in concert because I’m really cheap about spending the money when I can just listen to it on my own. From watching all her performances, I could tell she was worth seeing live. She just puts on a really cute show with lots of energy and her outfits are just perfection every time. She’s just…infectious. Let’s just say I have a huge girl crush on her and I haven’t felt that way in a while. I like a lot of artists and their music here and there, and sometimes I like the music but don’t really care enough to be a fan of the actual artist but in this case, I was in love.
I don’t know how but I started this year with no plans and somehow my fall season is booked and busy. When it rains, it pours is the running theme of my life, I guess. I do enjoy having a lot of events and keeping busy but the downside of all this is, is the literal costs of it all. I thought I had my financial situation handled and I even was able to be resourceful during the trips I had planned but of course, I should have known my life is always throwing financial curveballs at me. It’s also my dragon birthday this year and I really wanted to have a special birthday this year with a cute little picnic with my friends. Fate dealt me a winning hand in a Instagram contest so hopefully it’ll happen later this month. But I digress. I was trying to save money and a few unexpected things popped up this year, especially this time of year and I’m struggling trying to keep up with it all. And in the ensuing stress, I was driven over the edge and irresponsibly as well as irrationally hit the dopamine button and bought tickets. What I’m trying to say is I definitely feel guilty because I should not have done this but at the same time, I HAVE NO REGRETS because in short, the concert was ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.
The morning of the concert was a little stressful. I used SeatGeek, a resale site and the ticketholder had not sent over my tickets yet. I spent all morning calling and calling, trying to get the company to expedite the process or follow through with their promise of comparable tickets because I needed to leave my house by a certain time to make it there on time. The luxury picnic I won from the Instagram contest was actually was supposed to happen that day too but got postponed due to the weather so that was also adding to my plate of stress, along with another episode of the above mentioned unrelated but unnecessary rude drama. It was a lot I was dealing with that morning while trying to make sure I wasn’t scammed. Eventually right as the time I needed to leave my house on time approached, the ticket transfer came through. I departed asap and made it to the city and was able to find street parking 2 blocks away from Madison Square Garden. A little bit of luck was finally on my side.
Sabrina was performing for 2 nights in NY, one at MSG and one at Barclays. I chose MSG because I was off this weekend anyway, and Sunday nights are better especially with free parking in the city and less traffic getting in and out. I didn’t want to deal with going to Brooklyn on a Monday night, having to worry about parking in an area I wasn’t familiar with and all the traffic trying to get there during rush hour. It worked out because MSG was the stop she wore my favorite outfits, a yellow bodysuit for her first part of the concert and a glittery pink two piece for the last part of the concert.
Speaking of which, glitter and form fitting, body hugging corsets are part of her aesthetic and my Noa corset I had custom made last year was just the thing to help make a perfect outfit for this concert. I paired it with my Kenzie Kay skirt and it was just so perfect I ended up posing for a staff member of Teen Vogue upon arriving at the venue because she loved my outfit. Pictures don’t do it justice with how glittery this corset is in person.
Security was pretty easy and fast to get through since we only brought in small bags and since doors didn’t open yet when we got there, we spent some time checking out the merch. Once it drew closer to 6pm, people started scrambling for the doors. We got lucky again with a few security guards who were nice enough to redirect us and get us through a different entrance with a shorter line and within 10-15 minutes, we were at our section. Since we were early, we waited on a quick line for a cute photo op for the gram and then grabbed our seats and relaxed our feet for an hour since we knew we were going to be standing in heels for her performance. The stadium slowly filled and we watched her opener Amaarae perform. I only know a few of her songs through TikTok trends but she was perfect for Sabrina through her similar energy and sexual vibe, albeit a darker, more alternative style. I love that she also played Hot To Go to get us amped up right before Sabrina was to perform. It was so much fun to see the entire audience singing along.
Then as Sabrina’s showtime grew near, that’s when the entire stadium filled up. She was supposed to go on at 8:30 but the screen didn’t come on til 8:35. The crowd was growing more and more excited while we waited. Then the heart on her logo on the screen turned red and started growing bigger and bigger until it took over the screen and displayed “The Short N’ Sweet show” and the crowd went crazy. The entire performance from start to end was absolutely amazing. From the set, to the wardrobe changes, to the transitions, the choreography, the personalized interactions with the audience, Sabrina truly puts on a Broadway like show! She looks like a Polly Pocket doll as she walks through her cute little stage, which was cleverly designed for all parts of the show. From her cute opener with her glitter towel to debut her bedazzled bodysuit, to her sultry performance for Bed Chem on a cute retro bed perfectly filmed from above and transitioning to the audience, to all her moving parts on set - the piano, the vanity, the fireplace, the loveseats - to her ridiculously fun heart stage that lifted her up during her Juno number, to the confetti at the end.
Everything was chef’s kiss😘👌. I used to wonder why people would pay so much to see the same performer/concert multiple times (my sister’s friend paid to see BTS like 4 times at 4 different seats for the different angles lol) but Sabrina changed me. I would love to watch this over and over, especially knowing she changes the colors of her outfits from city to city. I’d watch to see the fashion alone. She stopped doing her Nonsense outros, to mark a new era and album, and switched over to doing different positions for her Juno song, which is also obnoxiously my favorite song off the new album. I don’t know if she’s big enough for them to bring her concert to streaming but I hope they do. Although it would be hard to pick one because every city gets different outfits and different surprise songs and I want to see them all! My one disappointment is that MSG’s surprise song was Mamma Mia. I’m mad because Detroit got Kiss Me and Baltimore got Material Girl. Both of which I love because they were in my wedding setlist.
All of this to say, the concert was absolutely amazing and worth every penny. Despite being in financial turmoil, I’m really happy I went and got to experience this amazing performance. I’m definitely bias, but Sabrina is an ARTIST. She is not just a singer but she truly does PERFORM. She gets up there and puts on the cutest damn show and really works that stage and commands it.
To the haters, you really need to go see this in person because this tiny girl really does belt her little heart out and give it her all in an hour and a half with nearly no breaks except to change her outfits very quickly and she’s back out again. Her album just came out but I’m already awaiting the next one and absolutely terrified for how much that tour is going to cost. Although I’m glad I got my money’s worth with the production she puts on. I haven’t to a lot of concerts but the few I have, the performer just gets on there and sings and runs back and forth across the stage but nothing noteworthy. Like The Weeknd. I love him but all he really did was sing across the stage and the ceiling part of the set moved. Same with Taylor Momsen when I saw The Pretty Reckless almost over a decade ago. She sings on stage in the same outfit, and stays almost in the same spot as she dances. Bruno Mars at least jumped back and forth through the stage with his backup dancers but Sabrina is like I said, theater production level.
Given her Disney roots and acting background, she definitely knows how to put on a mother freaking show. As mad as I am at the resellers, I’m really happy for her for selling out all her shows. Those stadiums are packed every night and she deserves everything that’s happening right now after hustling so hard this past year, and never giving up the past few years she’s spent trying to break through.
So what’s the final verdict? Is she that sweet? I guess so. 😘
