Sabrina Carpenter performed a big band-inspired medley of ‘Espresso’ and ‘Please Please Please’ at the 2025 Grammys, featuring fake gaffes and tap dancing – watch footage of the performance below.
Making her debut as a performer for the awards show last night (February 2), she ramped up the theatrical style honed on the ‘Short ‘N Sweet’ tour, beginning her set atop a staircase in a shimmering tie and tails outfit, twirling a baton which she pretended to drop down the steps.
Other intentional errors in her humorous set included disappearing under the steps completely, a nod to Goldie Hawn’s 1978 performance of ‘Nobody Does It Like Me’.
She then crawled back up, only to miss the cue to lines of the newly show tune styled ‘Espresso’. After pulling off her suit to reveal a baby blue corset, she moved into a lively tap dance flanked by dancers before launching into ‘Please Please Please’.
Sabrina Carpenter performs a new rendition of "Espresso" at the 2025 #Grammys pic.twitter.com/xBXlSBuQMe
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 3, 2025
The second number was performed in front of a house, with the set piece falling through as she was carried by one of the background dancers. First-time nominee Carpenter wrapped up the performance by finishing off ‘Espresso’, and host Trevor Noah joked: “That was amazing and funny, which I didn’t appreciate. Really, Sabrina? You’re just gonna take my job like that?”
She received nominations for Album Of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, as well as Song Of The Year for ‘Please Please Please’ and Record Of The Year for ‘Espresso’, taking home awards for Best Pop Solo Performance with ‘Espresso’ and Best Pop Vocal Album for ‘Short ‘N Sweet‘.
Recently, the pop star hit out at Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman’s recent comments about her, after Waterman named her as someone whose image he considered detrimental to women in an interview with The Sun, saying: “If you’re asking to be respected, don’t come on in a G-string,” before Stock dismissed Carpenter’s sexualised lyrics as “lazy”.
Carpenter then responded in a follow-up interview with The Sun on Sunday, saying: “My message has always been clear – if you can’t handle a girl who is confident in her own sexuality, then don’t come to my shows.”
She added that women being judged on their appearance “isn’t something new”, saying: “Female artists have been shamed forever. In the noughties it was Rihanna, in the nineties it was Britney Spears, in the eighties it was Madonna – and now it’s me. It’s essentially saying that female performers should not be able to embrace their sexuality in their lyrics, in the way we dress, in the way we perform.
“It is totally regressive. It’s like those who want to shame don’t make comments when I talk about self-care or body positivity or heartbreak, which are all normal things a 25-year-old goes through. They just want to talk about the sexual side of my performances.”