Former Disney star Sabrina Carpenter embraces ‘dark, weird sides’ of fame, refuses to be ‘little robot angel’

Sabrina Carpenter does not let haters get to her.

The "Espresso" singer kicked off her "Short n’ Sweet Tour" in late September, and just a few days in fought back against claims she’s lip-syncing.

A TikToker posted a video of one of Carpenter’s recent performances, declaring "Hate to say it but 30% lip singing 30% backing track 40% singing"

Carpenter actually responded in the comments, "I sing live at every show 100%. Would you like to speak to my audio engineers?"

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After someone on TikTok accused her of lip-syncing during her "Short n' Sweet Tour," Sabrina Carpenter commented on the post directly, saying, "I sing live at every show 100%. Would you like to speak to my audio engineers?" (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AEG)

The day after the online back and forth, an X user shared a video of Carpenter singing without the backing track, clearly performing live. "Her completely removing the backtrack for the next show I’m crying she’s so petty I love her," they wrote in the caption.

Representatives for Carpenter did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

A recent fan video showed Sabrina Carpenter singing without a backing track in her latest performance, showcasing her singing live. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AEG)

"To go through your life trying to be a little robot angel, you’re going to have a lot of regrets later." 

— Sabrina Carpenter

The 25-year-old has blown up over the past summer, after years of hard work as both an actress and singer. 

Her breakthrough role was on the Disney Channel series "Girl Meets World" at 13, a spin-off of "Boy Meets World."

Sabrina Carpenter first came to fame on "Girl Meets World," the Disney Channel series that was a spin-off of the Ben Savage starring show, "Boy Meets World." (Eric McCandless/DISNEY CHANNEL via Getty Images)

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She had also signed a contract with Disney’s Hollywood Records a year before, telling Time magazine for their Time 100 List interview with her, "I wouldn't be able to thrive as a recording artist the same way I would have been able to working on a show as a child actor."

Carpenter continued acting, as well as singing, releasing four albums with her first label, but struggled to break through.

"For a long time, I was constantly guided and misguided. I'm so grateful for all of those times where I was led astray, because now I'm a lot more equipped going into situations where I have to trust my own instincts," she told Time.

In August, she told The Guardian, "You start to realize that there’s more to all of it than just, like, blood, sweat and tears and love and talent and passion. There’s beautiful sides to this and there’s really dark, weird sides to all of it." 

"You start to realize that there’s more to all of it than just, like, blood, sweat and tears and love and talent and passion. There’s beautiful sides to this and there’s really dark, weird sides to all of it," Sabrina Carpenter told The Guardian. (Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Images)

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 "I sing live at every show 100%. Would you like to speak to my audio engineers?"

— Sabrina Carpenter

The "Nonsense" singer continued, "I just love doing it – there’s sort of a need for it – and when that’s the thing that’s driving you, success doesn’t really matter. You’re just gonna keep going regardless. I’ve been called a flop many times and here we are, so …"

Carpenter released her fifth, more mature album, "Emails I Can’t Send," in 2022 with a new label, and she began to evolve into the mega star dominating the radio this past summer, leaving any trace of her Disney days behind.

"I definitely felt held back where I was," she told The Guardian, adding she "had to fight a little bit" but was grateful to her old label for "allowing me to leave."

"When I was a kid, I just wanted to sing on stage and, in that, I hoped to make people happy," she said. "And then you realize, especially with the internet: if I’m having a bad day, or didn’t get enough sleep, or haven’t had any coffee, and I say something and the tone comes off a little snarky, there’s a million people waiting to call you a terrible person. You’ve got to tiptoe around the edge of being authentic and protecting yourself, which is a bit of a mindf---."

When it comes to comments on the internet, Sabrina Carpenter said, "there’s a million people waiting to call you a terrible person." (Cindy Ord/VF24/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)

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She later told Time, that as she was embarking on her new album and sound, "I wanted to make sure to still be young while I’m young… To go through your life trying to be a little robot angel, you’re going to have a lot of regrets later." 

Earlier this year, she told Rolling Stone, she was almost pushed to more adult material while still a teen. 

"When I was younger, I think I’d almost feel pressure to write about mature subject matter because of the people around you being like, ‘This is something that is cool and what works.’ I didn’t do it until I felt like it was actually authentic to me," she said.

Now that she is on her second album as an adult, she admitted to The Guardian "people maybe wrote me off, from my past as a Disney kid." 

Sabrina Carpenter said when she was younger, she felt pressure to do "mature subject matter" in her music. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Rolling Stone via Getty Images)

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Carpenter is known for her sexy onstage style, including sparkly showgirl and lingerie-inspired outfits, big blonde curls, and her petite height (she is only five feet tall).

"Femininity is something that I've always embraced. And if right now that means corsets and garter belts and fuzzy robes or whatever the f---, then that's what that means," she told Time.

There has been some criticism of her sexier pinup style, but much like the lip-syncing controversy, Carpenter has been able to brush it off.

"But you'll still get the occasional mother that has a strong opinion on how you should be dressing. And to that I just say, don't come to the show and that’s OK," she told Time. "It's unfortunate that it's ever been something to criticize, because truthfully, the scariest thing in the world is getting up on a stage in front of that many people and having to perform as if it's nothing. If the one thing that helps you do that is the way you feel comfortable dressing, then that's what you’ve got to do."

Sabrina Carpenter said some parents complain about her skimpy stage costumes, but said, "to that I just say, don't come to the show and that’s OK." (Photo by Christopher Polk/Rolling Stone via Getty Images)

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She also told the outlet her mom, dad and 94-year-old grandfather attended her opening night show in Columbus, Ohio, for a tour that featured her not only in skimpy outfits, but very sexy dance moves.

"My fans online are like, I can’t believe she's bending over in front of her grandparents!" Carpenter said. "I'm like, girl, they are not paying attention to that. They’re just like, I can’t believe all these people are here."

The "Please Please Please" singer said her parents and grandparents have come out to support her at concerts. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AEG)

As she told Rolling Stone, "I feel really grateful that this has happened over the course of a lot of time of me figuring it out because it doesn’t feel like it was sprung up on me."

"It’s almost like I can just relax and be excited about it," she added.