I wasn’t looking for a new go-to song this summer, but Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” — released Thursday — has quickly become a favorite and is already setting the tone for the season.
The track is deceptively sweet-sounding but packs a subtle punch, mocking the incompetence of men. It pokes fun at the normalization of the immature, boyish guy who never got the memo about growing up.
She sings, “Why so sexy if so dumb?/ And how survive the Earth so long?/ If I’m not there, it won’t get done/ I choose to blame your mom/ Man-child/ Why you always come a-runnin’ to me?”
Cutting a man down a size with short words he can actually understand.
The song doesn’t explicitly name her most recent ex, actor Barry Keoghan, but it’s easy to read between the lines. “Manchild” broadly captures the exhaustion of dealing with emotionally stunted men and how dating one feels more like babysitting.
Following the single’s release, the “Manchild” music video dropped the next morning, directed by Vania-Heymann and Gal Muggia.
The video compares dating to the Wild West — chaotic, ruthless and full of disappointments. Expectations aren’t always met, and many prospects are often slow and useless.
Honestly, I enjoyed the music video just as much, if not more than the song itself.
Carpenter travels the American West by catching rides with all types of men, their only similarity being their inability to get her where she needs to go.
Her vintage Southwestern aesthetic perfectly complements her playful attitude, adding to the creativity and attention to detail in the visuals.
She rollerblades alongside a garbage truck, lies on top of a car with a cigarette dangling from her mouth and swims with sharks. Each “manchild” is a new obstacle as she makes her way through the desert.
The music video nods to iconic films — from her Penny-Lane inspired look (a callback to “Almost Famous”) to a dramatic car flying off a cliff in true “Thelma & Louise” fashion. In the last scene, she exits one car heading in one direction and steps into another going the opposite way.
It’s a wash-rinse-repeat cycle of toxic relationships, a perfect metaphor for being stuck in a pattern, maybe a trap of her own making.
Co-written with songwriter Amy Allen and producer Jack Antonoff, “Manchild” is Carpenter’s first release since her “Short n’ Sweet” deluxe album.
Critics say it sounds like a mash-up of her earlier songs, predictable with the same poppy beat and flirtatious, cheeky lyrics.
Sonically, they’re not wrong; it carries a familiar essence and recognizable melody. But I think Carpenter has found her sound after years in the music industry and has continued to lean into it.
Should an artist be expected to reinvent themselves with every album just to stay interesting and hold attention?
That expectation can be exhausting — and often unrealistic for artists like Carpenter, whose strength lies in capturing a specific moment rather than chasing permanence.
I believe there’s pressure to create a timeless sound. But for Carpenter, her music is very situational and it’s what has made her successful.
In fact, she writes the exact opposite of timeless music — it’s timely.
“This song became to me something I can look back on that will score the mental montage to the very confusing and fun adult years of my life,” Carpenter wrote on Instagram. “It sounds like the song embodiment of a loving eye roll and it feels like a never ending road trip in the summer!”
As an artist, the goal is to create music that connects with your audience the moment it’s released. Carpenter’s doing just that, she’s having fun, saying what she means and making it a fun experience to listen to.
There’s no doubt that she and her team clearly understand their audience — young women navigating love, lust and the lingering gaze of the wrong kind of men. She’s not just singing to them. She’s singing with them.
