Thanks To This Iconic 1970s Band, We Now Have Sabrina Carpenter's Short N' Sweet - Sunburst Viral- Latest News on Celebrities, gossip, TV, music and movies

Sabrina Carpenter‘s Short n’ Sweet was heavily inspired by a famous 1970s music group. In 2024, during Carpenter’s breakout year, the star drew a lot of comparisons to artists from older generations. Among them were people like Marilyn Monroe and country queen Dolly Parton. Carpenter has never been shy about the artists that inspire her and has become known for covering their music at her shows.

Short n’ Sweet tracks like “Slim Pickins” and “Bad Reviews” feel very reminiscent of Parton’s music, while Carpenter’s R&B songs take inspiration from notable female artists within that genre, such as Rihanna and Mariah Carey. However, there’s one music quartet from the ’70s that has inspired Sabrina Carpenter more than anyone else, especially in this era.

ABBA Is A Huge Inspiration For Sabrina Carpenter’s Music

Carpenter Has Sung The Band’s Praises For Years

Sabrina Carpenter has never been shy about how much she loves the Swedish pop group ABBA. She’s expressed her love for their music on social media quite a lot throughout her career and even named her kittens after ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. During her Short n’ Sweet Tour cover set, Carpenter regularly covers ABBA’s 1975 hit, “Mamma Mia.”

However, Carpenter had covered the band for years before her breakout era. Carpenter covered ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love On Me” at various music festivals and on her Emails I Can’t Send Tour. The pop star even occasionally added “Dancing Queen” to her setlist when she was opening up for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

It’s no surprise that, since she’s such a big fan of the group, ABBA had such an impact on her career. Carpenter has quite a few songs that mimic ABBA’s ’70s disco-pop production. Emails I Can’t Send tracks like “Read Your Mind” and “Feather” utilize disco elements like bass, strings, and four-on-the-floor beats. However, Carpenter really leaned into the ABBA influence on one of her Short n’ Sweet tracks.

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TikTok DJs have grown accustomed to mashing up similar-sounding songs, and the account @altegomusic did this with Carpenter’s song “Please Please Please.” After a follower suggested the song sounded like ABBA’s single “Super Trouper,” the duo mixed the songs, proving how perfect they sound together. However, it’s no mistake that “Please Please Please” sounds a lot like ABBA. The song’s producer, Jack Antonoff, admitted that the Swedish pop group was one of the inspirations behind the song’s production.

On Variety‘s Behind the Song, Antonoff explained that he wanted “Please Please Please” to feel organic, like an ELO or ABBA song. He appreciates that the music from that time period used real instruments since they didn’t have the technology the world has today. Antonoff said the “synthetic instruments” are what give these kinds of songs “incredible character.“

ABBA’s Iconic Fashion Inspired The Short N’ Sweet Tour

Carpenter Modeled A Costume After ABBA’s Concert

For Sabrina Carpenter, it’s more than ABBA’s music that has inspired her; their fashion has as well. Carpenter has become known for her platform go-go boots, reminiscent of what ABBA would wear in the ’70s. However, Carpenter also admitted there’s a specific Short n’ Sweet Tour costume that was inspired by the ABBA Voyage show in London.

In a video for Vogue, Carpenter revealed that an Act III outfit was inspired by a fabric that one of the ABBA members wore during the Voyage show. Carpenter described the material as “liquidy,” and although the ABBA show uses holograms of the bandmates, Carpenter knew she wanted to bring the fabric to life for her tour.

To make the third act of the Short n’ Sweet Tour even more ABBA-inspired, before “Please Please Please,” the pop star and her backup singers line up in a triangle position. The silhouettes look too similar to Donna and the Dynamos from the ABBA jukebox musical Mamma Mia to be a coincidence.

Could Carpenter & ABBA Collaborate?

Carpenter Has Worked With Her Inspirations In The Past

With Sabrina Carpenter being so outspoken about her love for ABBA, it seems like a collaboration between them is imminent. When Carpenter took her Short n’ Sweet Tour to Stockholm, Sweden, she met up with Ulvaeus and made a quick video with him for ABBA‘s TikTok account. Whether it was an Easter egg for something to come is a mystery, but Carpenter is no stranger to collaborating with her idols.

Carpenter invited Dolly Parton to a stripped-down version of “Please Please Please” for the Short n’ Sweet Deluxe Edition. The two even starred together in a music video, inspired by old black-and-white crime films. The “Espresso” singer has also performed live with many of her inspirations, like Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Kacey Musgraves, and Christina Aguilera. While nothing’s confirmed, there’s certainly a future where Sabrina Carpenter could get in the studio with the ’70s icons, or at least bring them out on stage at the Short n’ Sweet Tour.