**MIU MIU** jacket and dress and **PANDORA** earrings and bracelets with charms.
Somewhere under the golden rays of the California sun, the seedling of a pristine Himalayan Blue Poppy begins to sprout. The stem grows slender but sturdy. The roots branch out rapidly, deeper into the chalky soil. The petals bend and fold, thirsting for rain, sometimes dropping wistfully in utter silence. The aroma remains as sweet as ever, the striking, blue-hued foliage a glimpse of treasure under meticulous growth challenges. Confidence is a delicate flower and needs to be nourished as such. Sabrina Carpenter—actor, singer, and producer—is well aware of this. The 22 year-old’s career has blossomed quickly, seeing Carpenter traverse any and all artistic avenues that pique her interest.
It’s early afternoon in Atlanta when I connect with Carpenter over Zoom, as she offers her apologies for just waking up and “sounding like a man” after shooting all night for her new thriller-comedy film _Emergency_. “Last night, we were on set and they started playing ‘No Diggity’ at 3 am in the woods,” she exclaims enthusiastically, “and everyone just got up, and the music was blasting in the middle of the forest, and we all started singing. It was the greatest.” Then she jokes, “I’m not used to being a bat yet, but I’m adjusting.”
Despite her demanding schedule, the artist appears calm, collected, and confident, and I feel as if I am catching up with an old friend, rather than chatting with a superstar who fostered a large fan base via her breakout role ten years ago on Disney’s _Girl Meets World_. We heartily discuss her singing career, though she recoils at the mere mention of her performance on a Miley Cyrus singing competition at ten years old, rocking a fedora and a peace sign t-shirt. All of that is in the rearview mirror now, as Carpenter has moved full speed ahead since her Disney days, recently wrapping production for _Tall Girl 2_ in New Orleans, procuring a deal with Netflix to produce a musical rendition of _Alice in Wonderland_ under her own production company—all while engineering a fifth studio album.
**MIU MIU** dress and **PANDORA** earrings and bracelets with charms.
**VERSACE** dress and bra and **PANDORA** earrings and necklaces with charms.
**MIU MIU** dress and **PANDORA** earrings and bracelets with charms.
Carpenter’s current Atlanta-based project, _Emergency_, is based on a short film of the same name from Sundance—the script turned into a full-length feature. The details of the film are kept under wraps, but the plot centers on a group of various college students on their way to an energetic night of partying when they become entangled in the perils of an unusual emergency. “It’s a really fun film, and it’s very much action-packed,” Carpenter remarks emphatically. “Having that much energy in the middle of the night isn’t usually my forte, because I’m much more of a morning person. It’s been a very interesting experience, getting loopy around eleven and having to be professional when I’m usually very silly.”
If you were to ask yourself what you were doing at 21, it likely wouldn’t be the feat of founding your own production company—but Carpenter stands apart from your average person in a vibrant display of splendor. Her pursuit to take control of her individual vision amassed with the founding of At Last Productions. “I always knew I wanted to produce,” she shares, “because I always saw myself on set looking at things with a producer hat. I knew I couldn’t say things and overstep. It was about having ideas, and just going into things with a strong point of view, and figuring out the best ways to make things happen. I really wanted to make things that I wasn’t necessarily in.”
Carpenter’s primary vision for _Alice_, currently in pre-production, charmingly came from her life-long fixation with the wildly curious character—even having an _Alice in Wonderland_ themed sweet 16. Carpenter will star in and produce the contemporary reimagining based upon the concept of a music festival called “Wonderland” alongside her producers from the Netflix dance musical comedy, _Work It_. “My hopes are to bring to life a version of the story no one has ever seen before,” she emphasizes. “Telling the story through the music is pivotal. I want to bring people in with a dynamic vision. Cinematography is a huge thing for me, and I love when things are shot abstractly. Because that story is so whimsical and otherworldly, I want to make it feel real and grounded and about real people, while also outside of your imagination.”
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**DIOR** playsuit, **GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI** shoes, **ISABEL MARANT** sunglasses, and **PANDORA** necklaces with charms, bracelets, and rings.
Since the pandemic, Carpenter has found herself back inside the intertwining worlds of cinema and music, a quarantine dually imbued with sentiment and solitude. The time to herself has led to an evolution in her lyrical abilities and formation of musical autonomy. “It gave me, as Sabrina, the opportunity to get a little bit closer with my own voice and myself,” she says. “Being alone in a room with a piano, and being able to send those ideas to my friends, and not having them being over-thought or touched too much was great. It gave me a little bit more time, whereas before I had to leave the studio with a full song done and nothing beforehand. I try not to go in with a specific mission of a thing I want to make, because it may take you down the wrong path and not allow you to be as creative as possible.”
Carpenter and I briefly mourn over the melancholia of our long-lost, quarantined 21st birthdays, in the absence of ritualistic booze-filled bar mania. “I got to learn my alcohol tolerance in the privacy of my own home, so that was great, because there’s no risk there!” she laughs optimistically. When asked what has memorably marked her growth in the past year, she replies, “I feel like I’m unlocking a lot of who I am currently, in the last year, especially. I feel like the 20’s, in my eyes, are such an exciting time, because I’m ready to feel as much as I can, and whether that be good or bad, it’s all useful.”
Carpenter’s embrace of the emotional spectrum is well-evidenced with her unwavering focus on music. She’ll soon yield her highly anticipated fifth studio album, which she likens to her “sonic universe” that she is currently molding. “This whole quarantine, it has been like, ‘well you know what, it doesn’t need to be perfect. I’m just going to put it out as is, c’est la vie, and see how it goes,’” she says, “because I’ll put something out, and be like, ‘Ah I wish I could change that, just a little bit.’ So I’m trying not to overthink it right now, but I am trying to make sure it tells the story I want to tell. So I’m taking my time with it.” In the midst of Carpenter’s careful songwriting process, she remains steadfast that she is perhaps the most inspired she’s ever been with “so much to cover and tackle.”
**VERSACE** dress and bra and **PANDORA** earrings and necklaces with charms.
**GUCCI** dress and gloves and **PANDORA** necklaces.
Drawing influences from the likes of Dominic Fike (she says his song “The Kiss of Venus” with Paul McCartney is one of her favorites), Julia Michaels, and timeless artists Sonny & Cher and Marvin Gaye, Carpenter is staying true to her roots, while also naturally shifting introspectively. “I think the fans are gonna be pleasantly surprised with the storytelling on this album compared to other albums,” she reflects. “This, more than ever, is very specific to me and my life and my stories. Before, the way I was writing songs was a little more for everyone else and a little less for myself. This one is more inward.”
“Skin,” Carpenter’s first single from the album, echoes nuances of the emotional turmoil Carpenter has faced in the heat of the public eye. The accompanying music video, shot in a vintage home with swoon-worthy love interest, Gavin Leatherwood, depicts the couple cursed by the environment around them collapsing—damned by earthquakes, rain, fog, and snow. The imagery seems to be synonymous with the buzzing media negativity Carpenter has received as of late. “‘Skin’ was a culmination of a lot of experiences that I had built up into,” she explains. “I remember trying to write around it, and trying to avoid it, and dance around the subject. I was trying to write anything but that. And then I think I wrote it, and I thought, ‘Maybe it lives out in the world, maybe it doesn’t.’ I felt it was the right time to do that song and express what I was feeling and going through. It was a different perspective than what a lot of other people were going through at the time, but it was my truth. I felt compelled to write exactly how I was feeling.”
Fame is certainly an aspect Carpenter has grown accustomed to over time, but one that has warranted her to learn that you reap what you sow. She attests that trust is not something she renounces with as much ease anymore. “When I was younger, I used to trust people so easily,” she affirms. “I thought people were so good, which is still true, and I still believe people are naturally good. But over time, I learned that some people don’t like you, don’t have a reason to like you, or feel threatened by you, which has been years and years of different experiences. That was always a really hard thing for me, because I really just always wanted to be friends with everyone. It’s been a rocky rollercoaster of learning people’s true colors and knowing what it takes to have that armor to protect yourself, while also being vulnerable in your art and letting people into your life.”
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**FENDI** playsuit, **PANDORA** bracelets and rings, and **GENTLE MONSTER** sunglasses.
**DIOR** playsuit, **GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI** shoes, **ISABEL MARANT** sunglasses, and **PANDORA** necklaces with charms, bracelets, and rings.
In discussing the single, the topic of her recent Tinker Bell-esque GLAAD award performance outfit comes up, as outfits do in accordance with young style influences like Carpenter. With the discourse of the memorable green chain metal mini comes the inquiry of how Carpenter’s distinct style has unfolded over time. “It’s constantly finding new versions of itself while remaining Sabrina,” she remarks. “There’s always been a sense of boyish-ness in what I wear, but I also really like to dress up. The worst thing I can do is pick one style, one cut, and wear it forever. I never want to put myself in a box.”
The altered landscape of the touring industry is one particular facet the pandemic has ripped away that Carpenter craves, deeply desiring the return to the face-to-face connection with her fanbase. “When you are touring, you think touring is the worst, because you’re tired all the time, and it takes so much out of you,” she says. “So when you have that break, it’s a breath of fresh air. But being away from it for this long has just been strange. Like not being with my bandmates, who are some of my closest friends. And being able to interact with my fans on a daily basis. They’ve been dependent on Twitter and Instagram to talk to me, and I am just so bad at those.”
Carpenter’s distaste for social media is a sentiment echoed by many other famous figures, especially for its drastic, destructive impact on mental health. “I think everyone gets to that point where it’s like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna touch grass and go for a walk.’ So I got to that point. Now it feels a bit more vague and atmospheric. We don’t realize how much we depend on it, and how much we consume it. We’re consuming things we don’t want to see, but it pops up in front of us, and it’s there, and we’re stuck with our feelings. But I think the best thing for me, sometimes, is to just not look at it.”
**SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARRELO** dress and boots and **PANDORA** earrings, bracelets with charms, and rings.
**SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARRELO** dress and boots and **PANDORA** earrings, bracelets with charms, and rings.
Despite the detachment we are all facing, hope is on the horizon, and Carpenter has a shining buoyancy regarding the return to normalcy. Even currently living out of a hotel amongst the blaring sirens of Atlanta, Carpenter remains a stark optimist through it all. “Even when things were getting worse, I always was like ‘There’s a light at the end of the tunnel’ or ‘The sun will come out tomorrow,’” she declares humorously. “If anything, it makes it so exciting to think about sharing these things we used to love doing all the time, like going to concerts, movie theatres, ice skating, roller skating, and fun things I used to do with my friends that I haven’t gotten to do in a hot minute.”
Carpenter’s eagerness is similarly shared in her itch to get back to the twinkling Broadway stages of New York. Her Broadway debut occurred at the unluckiest of moments in March of 2020, as the leading role of Cady Heron in Tina Fey’s _Mean Girls_. While only two shows took place before the impending apocalyptic doom, the two-month rehearsal process helped facilitate a familial bond for the cast, an immediate energy that Carpenter says is unique to stage work. “It was the push that I needed and wanted,” she asserts. “There’s really nothing like it, where you finish the show. It’s some of the happiest, purest moments that money can’t buy.”
Jovial moments are certainly in store for Carpenter’s future, and from the radiance of her demeanor, you get an inkling that she may just sashay her way to the top of producing stardom. Planting new seeds is certainly nothing out of reach for the star. “I’m always reading stories to see if there’s nuggets of certain things that I can turn into something bigger,” she concludes. “I’d like to push some envelopes in any way that I can.” And therein lies Carpenter, a Blue Poppy, standing tall and lively as ever against the woes faced by the parched California brush.
**DIOR** playsuit, **ISABEL MARANT** sunglasses, and **PANDORA** necklaces with charms, bracelets, and rings.
Photographed by [Sam Dameshek](https://www.instagram.com/samdameshek/?hl=en)
Styled by [Brandon M Garr](https://www.instagram.com/brandonmgarr/?hl=en)
Hair: [Danielle Priano](https://www.instagram.com/daniellepriano/?hl=en)
Makeup: [Jill Powell](https://www.instagram.com/jillpowellglam/?hl=en)
Stylist assistant: [Jake Haynie](https://www.jakehaynie.net/)
Flaunt Film by: [Colourbus](https://www.instagram.com/colourbusmedia/)
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