Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild Music Video
Sabrina Carpenter recently wrapped up her Short & Sweet Tour, after announcing a few more dates at the end of 2025. However, she’s been even sweeter to us by debuting a hit single titled Manchild. This track follows Carpenter's usual pop sound with an iconic synth, retro twist that we all have grown to love.
Carpenter's Manchild release was swiftly followed by the release of the music video. The track and the video together craft an interesting story. This video is unlike any video Carpenter has released before. While it includes the same elements of irony and comedy, this video also includes a more discreet message that takes a bit more analyzing to figure out. The video takes place in the desert, and it opens with a tortoise carrying a seagull on its back. This is a metaphor because a seagull can fly, traveling far more land in less time than a tortoise, however, the seagull is still sitting on the tortoise's back. The metaphor is that the seagull is depending on the tortoise for transportation, even though the seagull can travel much faster if it depended on itself. This metaphor is followed by Carpenter being thrown out of a car, only to get back up and stick her thumb in the air, preparing to get into the next man's car that will stop for her.
Throughout the entire video, Carpenter is seen getting herself into different sticky situations with different strange men, even comparing men to barn animals (sheep, pigs, etc.) several times. Each time, you can see her becoming more and more fed up with the situations these men are getting her into, all the while singing about how these men “keep running to her”, and how they’re “taking all my lovin’ from me”. The entire track is an ironic take on how Carpenter wishes these men would stop getting involved with her, but in reality she is the one getting involved with them and regretting it afterwards. I think this track is an iconic take on dating and how sometimes you just keep going back to what you know isn't good for you. Carpenter often highlights her own personal flaws and struggles within her music, even if they don't align with how society typically depicts an “independent woman”, as a way of connecting with her audience in a more relatable manner.
Carpenter has built her platform on the inside joke with her fans that “no man that enters the Sabrina Carpenter cinematic universe survives. This theme rings true in this music video as well. While the entire video is Carpenter repeatedly getting involved with “stupid” or “useless” men, knowing that it is only dragging her down, this theme carries over as one man drops her off and then drives directly off a cliff. This adds to the humorous, light-hearted element of the video that seems to create the most relatable and iconic content for her fans. We have seen this theme time and time again with her music videos for tracks like Please, Please, Please, as well as the deluxe version that she did with Dolly Parton. Then again with her music video for Taste, and even because i liked a boy, where she played a member of a circus as a metaphor for how she felt when writing the track.
Carpenter's history of acting left her with plenty of talent to spare when filming her videos, and getting to see her craft unfold before us is something to behold for the pop industry. Carpenter's music gives its listeners feelings of both nostalgia and comfort. Whether her fans are able to reminisce on a time in their life where they were naive and in love, or they are currently experiencing a difficult relationship, or they can recall a time in their life when they've encountered a “manchild” in any instance, they can all find a home in this track.
There have been many artists within the pop industry attempting to go for something “new and different” within their genre to set them apart from the crowd. While Carpenters music follows the formula for pop music, and certainly stays repeating in our heads, the diversity between each of her tracks and her ever changing aesthetic and visuals always keeps us guessing. You can see lots of old influence within her tracks and her style from multiple generations of music and celebrity culture.
Carpenter really is just “doing it differently” giving us an inside view into her love life, insecurities and vengeful tales like we’ve been best friends for years. Her take on pop music is one of authenticity, giving us album after album that feels like fun sleepover talk, delivering honesty and reality. Now, with Carpenter entering a new era of her music, we are able to unfold a whole new storyline alongside her. If you are looking for an artist that's looking to have fun, Sabrina Carpenter and her song Manchild, along with the music video are definitely worth your while!
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