Why Sabrina Carpenter Needs To Tone Down The X-Rated On-Stage Acts

Pop star Sabrina Carpenter has made quite a name for herself with her hit single “Espresso,” but now she is attracting a whole new kind of attention that is making everyone hot under the collar.

During her “Short n’ Sweet” tour, she often incorporates choreography that has come to be known as the “Juno pose,” as it appears at the part of the show where she sings, “Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?”

During the line, she mimics various sexual positions that have included her arching her back, bending over, spreading her legs in the air, placing the microphone between her legs, or pretending to put it down her throat. During her Paris tour, she used two back-up dancers to mimic the famous Eiffel Tower pose.

Although the “Please Please Please” singer is having fun on stage, the show would go along just fine without it. The poses have seemingly drawn nothing but complaints; her 2025 BRIT Awards performance received over 900 complaints, according to Ofcom.

Many parents were outraged to watch the singer, who was dressed in skimpy red lingerie, suggestively drop down to her knees in front of a dancer who was wearing a King’s Guard uniform. The “guard” then turns toward the lens and winks in order to distract the audience from her simulated sex pose.

Elsewhere in the program, she performs her hit song “Bed Chem” on a large bed, where she and other backup dancers spread their legs apart in the air. The performance came close to breaking the broadcasting code’s watershed rules, which declare that “unsuitable material” should not be shown before 9 PM, according to Ofcom.

As The Blast previously reported, the singer faced new backlash for the new sexual position she tried out during a tour stop in Stockholm. Wearing a sleeveless two-piece, she dropped to her knees and made facial and mouth movements that appeared to imitate a sex act while both of her hands made a grabbing gesture in the air.

Many of her fans dubbed this new position “motorboating,” which involves a person placing their face between another person’s breasts and shaking it while making sounds like a motorboat. When she had finished her “performance,” she picked up her microphone and kept on singing, but many users took to social media to slam her explicit acts.

Overall, the consensus on social media was that she was “desperate for attention” and getting “trashier by the day,” while others called her latest motorboating move “gross” and “disgusting.”

"I think she craves attention because her music doesn't cut it," a user commented, while another wrote, "She's hyped up to the max because ‘her’ music sucks. That's all."

Another netizen asked if they had actually heard her sing live. “If you have, you would understand why she resorts to provocative acts. She’s horrible,” they added.

Another user called her “so not a role model” while expressing concern for younger girls who might attend her show.

Fans might remember the song “Thumbs” from her second studio album Evolution, which came out in 2016. The song was played on a lot of radio stations at the time, but quickly faded out when the next big pop hit came onto the scene. Although she has been performing for a long time, it can be argued that her mainstream popularity didn’t start until “Espresso” went big and she opened for Taylor Swift during The Eras Tour.

An insider once told the Daily Mail that the singer had to change up her approach because she "didn't connect with a mass audience, and drastic changes needed to be made."

Sabrina moved to Island Records in 2021, where they decided to shed her “everyday image” and decided to make her seem more like a “sexpot” in order to sell records. Although the former Disney star was reportedly uneasy to shed her “wholesome image,” she decided to follow the label’s advice.

"It made her very uncomfortable, as behind closed doors, she wears sweats, little makeup, and likes to stay home and watch Netflix,” the insider explained.

That being said, another source told the outlet that she was willing to do whatever it took to become a household name. "Sabrina knows she has to just let go and accept that she will have to become a commercial product to establish herself," the source told the news outlet.

They added, "It is no different from what Britney, Gaga, or Katy Perry did. They know what will sell, and she will do that until she is at a place where she is able to call the shots."

At this point, it seems hard to believe that she will ever return to her "good girl" image. She seems to be having fun with what she's doing on stage, despite the uproar that it's causing online.

Or, perhaps, that's why she's doing it. Any attention can be positive attention in this industry, and if she has to sacrifice her wholesome image in order to sell records, it seems she's ready to do just that. The problem is, eventually you reach a point where sexy becomes too sexy, and there isn't anything else to tease.

Like any good model will tell you, sometimes what you don't show is more enticing than what you do.