“Two years ago I was here playing for 5,000 people,” she says, referencing her 2023 support slot for K-Pop band Blackpink.
“I was dreaming of this day and this moment.”
It’s delivered with heartfelt sincerity – even if having been there I’d say it was way more than 5,000 – but her slick, hugely entertaining 80-minute set proves why she’s risen so swiftly to Pop Queen status.
Sabrina Carpenter played two sell-out shows at BST Hyde Park. (Image: Jordan Hughes and Alfredo Flores) With her bouncy curls, gleaming smile, and perky stage presence, there’s an all-American cheerleader quality to the former Disney star – and a sugary edge to some of her tunes.
But a healthy dose of saucy humour and grown-up, sexually confident lyrics save her from saccharine teeny-bop territory.
Tonight she sports a spangled hotpant suit emblazoned with her name, and with the retro-70s parody of between-song videos she recalls Kylie’s wink-to-the- audience campery, melded with Dolly Parton’s steeliness.
It seems to take an age for her to come on, and the younger fans who got an earlier soaking are in danger of wilting, but as soon as the opening number Busy Woman kicks in there isn’t a dull moment.
Accompanied by a gaggle of dancers she’s a consummate performer who never misses a beat as she roams the two-tier set, shooting T-shirts into the audience and writhing around on a white silk bed for Bed Chem.
The crowd of young girls around us are already screaming – but then she gets us all howling before bringing out 80s favourites Duran Duran for Hungry Like The Wolf.
It has to be said this is more one for the mums than the bewildered Gen Alpha, but Carpenter can’t put a foot or a note wrong with this crowd.
Like her album, and the 5ft Sabrina herself, the set is Short ‘n’ Sweet but goes out with a bang.
First there’s the glorious singalongs of Juno and Please, Please, Please, then she high fives the crowd before mounting a crane and dangling over the audience for Don’t Smile.
And then it’s back to the stage for – what else? – Espresso and a spray of celebratory fireworks – sending the fans off happy into the night.
