Sabrina Carpenter Brings Hollywood Screwball Comedy Magic to the Grammys

Your favorite five-foot blonde has entered the building. Sabrina Carpenter took the stage at the 2025 Grammys to perform “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” from her breakthrough album Short n’ Sweet.

Carpenter appeared at the Los Angeles Crypto.com Arena in a glittery old-timey tuxedo jacket, singing a jazzy rendition of “Espresso” with charming moves right out of a classic Hollywood screwball comedy. She then launched into “Espresso” proper, dressed in her signature powder blue color, before seamlessly shifting to “Please Please Please” — her first Number One hit. The performance concluded with a reprise of “Espresso,” because if she’s taught us anything this year, it’s that she loves working late.

Carpenter dropped the Grammy-nominated “Espresso” in April 2024, the lead single from Short n’ Sweet. It quickly took on a life of its own, becoming the source of memes, an SNL skit starring Ariana Grande, and several branding partnerships, including an espresso martini kit and a signature Dunkin drink. “My mom has been like, ‘Do you feel crazy right now?’” she told Rolling Stone last summer. “I just love that people get my sense of humor.”

Carpenter earned her first-ever Grammy noms this year with Short n’ Sweet, which she described to Variety as her “second ‘big girl’ album,” a.k.a. the “hot older sister” to 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send. Short n’ Sweet amassed a total of six nods across categories that include the Big Four: Best New Artist (“I don’t know how that’s possible. I’m the best old artist!” she joked last fall), Album of the Year, Song of the Year for “Please Please Please,” and Record of the Year “Espresso.” The latter also received a nom for Best Pop Solo Performance, while Short n’ Sweet was also tapped for Best Pop Vocal Album.

In an email to fans in December 2024 — the same month she dropped her Netflix Christmas special and detailed her dream meeting with a Beatle — Carpenter reflected on her massive year. “Putting out the album was one thing….but the way you gave it such incredible life was another!” she wrote. “You guys made Short n’ Sweet my first Grammy-nominated album, you guys broke historical records I did not even know existed, and you guys sold out my first arena tour in minutes!”

Carpenter will continue the momentum this year, headlining London’s Hyde Park in July.