Sabrina Carpenter has officially had it with the walking red flags disguised as potential boyfriends. If her chart-crushing hit “Espresso” was a wink and a giggle, her latest release “Manchild” is a full-blown eye-roll with a raised martini glass and a flaming middle finger. The pop princess is back, bitter, brilliant, and just a little bit bored.
She Rode a Jet Ski Down a Highway and Made It Look Like Couture
Following the single’s release on June 5, Carpenter gifted the world with the official “Manchild” music video Friday morning. Let’s just say, it’s giving Thelma & Louise meets TikTok satire with a sprinkle of Hot Girl Rapture. Directed by pop visual savants Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, the video sees the “Feather” singer hitchhiking her way through the Wild West, relying on a parade of tragically inadequate men to get her to wherever the hell she’s going. A metaphor so sharp you could cut your ex off with it.
There’s the guy with the motorized recliner, the one with the motorcycle-sidecar-shopping-cart situation, and, of course, the legend who somehow convinced her to ride jet ski-style on the highway. Each moment is a slow-motion disaster of male incompetence as Carpenter lounges, struts, and sighs her way across America’s most absurd forms of transport. Not unlike the emotional vehicles most women are forced to endure in the name of romance.
“Stupid, or is it slow, maybe it’s useless, but there’s a cuter word for it, I know,” she sings with deadly sweetness. “Manchild.” And then the kicker: “F–k my life, won’t you let an innocent woman be?”
Sabrina’s Not Just Sick of Men, She’s Sick of Babysitting Them
“Manchild” isn’t just a song. It’s a state of mind. Carpenter crafted the track with hitmaker Amy Allen and producer Jack Antonoff (yes, he’s still everywhere) shortly after wrapping up the recording of her Short n’ Sweet deluxe album. “It ended up being the best random Tuesday of my life,” she confessed on Instagram. Honestly? Same.
This song is giving emotional detox. It’s giving therapy but make it pop. It’s giving don’t call me unless you’ve unlearned your mother’s gender roles and fixed your relationship with accountability. Carpenter said it herself. The track scores the “mental montage” of her confusing but iconic young adult years. And if that doesn’t resonate with every woman who’s had to explain empathy to a man in a backwards cap, nothing will.
“No Animals Were Harmed, But Some Men Were” and Thank God
The “Girl Meets World” alum summed up the “Manchild” video with the most delicious Instagram caption of 2025 so far:
“No animals were harmed in the making but some men were.”
Poetry. Literature. Feminist canon. She didn’t just write a breakup anthem. She wrote a thesis.
And this isn’t some random side B. “Manchild” follows Carpenter’s massively successful Short n’ Sweet album, which spent four straight weeks dominating the Billboard 200 last year, becoming her first-ever No. 1 project. The deluxe edition only added fuel to her rise, blessing fans with additional tracks like “15 Minutes” and “Bad Reviews” songs that were already dragging the male species, but with a little more subtlety.
Not anymore. Subtlety has left the chat.
A Pop Tour, But Make It a Victory Lap
Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” era has been nothing short of a pop masterclass, and she’s far from done. After wrapping her European tour leg, the singer is gearing up to conquer London’s Hyde Park in July before returning to North America for another run of shows. By now, her live performances are less concerts and more cultural reset events. Complete with crowd sing-alongs, rhinestone corsets, and probably a few more digs at whatever man inspired “Manchild.”
Let’s be honest. If you’ve ever dated a man who called himself a “feminist” and still thought folding laundry was “helping,” this track is your new anthem. Sabrina Carpenter saw the problem, named it, and then rode away from it on the back of a damn couch with wheels.
Pop Music’s Sharpest Brat Just Got Meaner and We Love Her For It
Sabrina Carpenter has entered her ‘eat, mock, leave’ era. “Manchild” is the logical progression from the caffeine-slick cheek of “Espresso,” a song that didn’t just flirt with world domination, it practically ordered it on Uber Eats. But now, she’s done being cute. She’s sharpening her lyrics like claws and aiming straight at the egos of men who think “emotional intelligence” is a podcast they heard once.
So to all the manchildren still trying to understand why she didn’t text back, don’t worry baby. She left you a roadmap. It’s called “Manchild,” and it slaps.
