You can debate amongst yourselves if the quality of today’s pop songwriting is comparable to that of yesteryear - Barry Manilow has a view on that, if you’re interested - but one thing we will say is that contemporary artists are more willing than ever to smash up genres and disregard stylistic conventions.
Take Sabrina Carpenter’s new single Manchild, for example. What begins as an almost DIY-sounding synth-pop track that could have come out of the early ‘80s quickly gets some banjo and fiddle flourishes that take it into the country realm.
Writing on Instagram, Carpenter confirmed that Manchild was the result of a writing session with regular collaborators Amy Allen and Jack Antonoff that took place after she’d completed her most recent album.
“I wrote Manchild on a random Tuesday with Amy and Jack not too long after finishing Short n’ Sweet and it ended up being the best random Tuesday of my life,” she said. “Not only was it so fun to write, but this song became to me something I can look back on that will score the mental montage to the very confusing and fun young adult years of life.”
Explaining why she wanted to release Manchild now rather than as part of a concerted campaign for her next album, Carpenter wrote: “It sounds like the song embodiment of a loving eye roll and it feels like a never ending road trip in the summer! Hence why I wanted to give it to you now - so you can stick your head out the car window and scream it all summer long!”
Carpenter’s Espresso, of course, was the song of summer 2024, so could Manchild make it two hot season winners in a row for the star? We wouldn’t bet against it.
The video for Manchild is set to drop later today, and Sabrina Carpenter plays Primavera Sound Barcelona tonight. Her performance will be streamed live on Amazon Prime Video.
