Sabrina Carpenter made her debut on NPR’s Tiny Desk series yesterday (December 20) – watch footage of the performance below.
- READ MORE: Why is Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ taking over Spotify algorithms?
Her stint on the series, which came with an advisory warning about explicit language, saw her play tracks from her most recent album ‘Short ‘n Sweet’, including fan favourite ‘Juno’ and a rendition of ‘Bad Chem’ with the addition of new violin arrangements.
After opening with ‘Taste‘, the Grammy nominee reflected on the beginnings of her career. “When I first started, it was kind of in a room like this,” she told the audience. “Very dry walls and there’s no reverb like when there’s headphones in the studio, but there’s something so real about it. It’s so special.”
Throughout her set, Carpenter shared stories of how certain songs came to be, as well as how she became known for being an “explicitly horny” pop star thanks to her now-retired “Nonsense” outros.
Referring to the often innuendo heavy outros as a “beautiful, happy accident”, she said they had inspired her following record and gave her a “limitless feeling” when she started writing ‘Short n’ Sweet’.
Elsewhere in the performance, she shared the origin story of ‘Bed Chem’, which came about after sharing a bed with her best friend Paloma. When they fell asleep and woke up at the same time unintentionally, she had quipped they had “really good bed chem”.
“So I saved it as a title,” she added. Then I met a guy and we had really good bed chem… She doesn’t make money on it so I give her a lot of credit.”
‘Bed Chem’ was recently named as one of NME’s 50 best songs of 2024. Rhian Daly wrote: “Sabrina Carpenter has made owning her sexuality an art – to the point she’s had to deny being “the horniest girl in the world”.
‘Bed Chem’ hasn’t helped matters. Full of cheeky lyrics (“Come right on me, I mean camaraderie”) and winking euphemisms, this is the song that should have been as ubiquitous as ‘Espresso’.”
Carpenter is set to bring the ‘Short N’ Sweet’ tour to the UK next year, and the dates include a huge headline slot at BST Hyde Park next summer. Visit here for tickets.
2025 will also see her headline Primavera Sound alongside Charli XCX and Chappell Roan, as well as embark on the UK and European leg of her tour, which will take place next year with former NME Cover star Rachel Chinouriri as a special guest.
Those shows kick off at 3Arena in Dublin on March 3, with further shows in Birmingham, London and Manchester – see all dates below and grab tickets here.
