According to Sabrina Carpenter, dating may be like the Wild West, particularly when so many potential partners end up being slow, incompetent, and foolish. Alternatively put, a “Manchild.”
The pop sensation released the funny music video for “Manchild” on Friday morning, June 6, after her new track was released the day before. The video, which was created by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, follows Carpenter as she hitches rides with a variety of men around the American West. The only things they have in common are their penchant for unusual forms of transportation and their incapacity to get the Grammy winner where she wants to go.
Carpenter repeatedly rolls her eyes and sings, “Stupid, or is it slow/ Maybe it’s useless/ But there’s a cuter word for it, I know/ Manchild/ Why you always come a-running to me?/ F–k my life/ Won’t you let an innocent woman be?” as she barrels down the highway on the back of a jet ski, in a shopping cart that is connected to a motorcycle, and on the arm of a motorized recliner chair.
Shortly after the video’s release, the Girl Meets World alumnus posted on Instagram, saying, “It’s exactly what I pictured in my head.” “Some men were hurt in the process, but no animals were.”
“Manchild,” which was released on Thursday, June 5, is Carpenter’s first new song since the additional tracks “15 Minutes,” “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” “Busy Woman,” and “Bad Reviews” were added to the Short n’ Sweet deluxe album. The artist’s first-ever No. 1 album on the list, the original LP debuted in August and topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks.
Carpenter claims that she wrote the song with producer Jack Antonoff and lyricist Amy Allen not long after finishing Short n’ Sweet. The “Espresso” artist posted on Instagram Thursday, saying, “It ended up being the best random Tuesday of my life.” “This song became a part of my memory that will serve as the soundtrack for the incredibly confusing and enjoyable years of my young adult life.”
Carpenter is presently taking a brief vacation from her Short n’ Sweet Tour, which began with a September North American stop last year. She embarked on a tour of Europe this spring, which will resume in July with two nights at London’s Hyde Park. She will then go on to perform in the US and Canada.