Sabrina Carpenter
photo: raph_ph · cc by 2.0 ↗Sabrina Carpenter spent her teens as a Disney Channel actress and a steady, unshowy pop singer before a 2022 breakup album, Emails I Can't Send, revealed a sharper songwriting voice. That voice fully arrived in 2024 with Short n' Sweet, a wink-heavy blend of disco-pop, country twang, and vocal-run flexing that made her one of the era's defining pop stars almost overnight. She pairs innuendo-laced one-liners with old-fashioned vocal showmanship, treating pop stardom as both a joke and a craft.
Carpenter has called Aguilera one of her earliest idols, telling Paper in 2024 'I was 11 years old, and you couldn't get her name out of my mouth,' and crediting Aguilera's 'Beautiful' with helping her find her own voice; the two later duetted on 'What a Girl Wants' for Aguilera's 25th-anniversary Spotify special.
listen forSet Aguilera's controlled, dynamics-driven belting on 'Beautiful' against the bridge of Carpenter's 'In My Bed' — listen for the same instinct to hold back and then let a big pop vocal moment land.
Carpenter has said she grew up listening to Parton, and the connection became literal in 2025 when a deluxe edition of Short n' Sweet added a Parton-featuring version of 'Please Please Please.'
listen forPlay Parton's wry, working-class charmer '9 to 5' against Carpenter's 'Please Please Please' — both dress up plainspoken, comic frustration in an irresistibly hooky, country-inflected pop melody.
Carpenter has named Swift, alongside Lorde, as a songwriting influence, and pointed to Swift's live performances and work ethic as inspiring her own approach to touring and career-building.
listen forCue up Swift's novelistic breakup narrative 'All Too Well' next to Carpenter's own 'because i liked a boy' — both lean on hyper-specific, diary-entry detail to turn a messy personal story into a pop confession.