Sabrina Carpenter has been covering some iconic songs during her run with Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour. First, she made her tour debut in Mexico City with Selena’s 1995 hit “Dreaming of You,” and recently she took the stage in Argentina and sang ABBA’s well-loved track “Dancing Queen.”
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Sitting down on the catwalk and bringing herself close to the massive audience, Carpenter began a low and slow rendition of “Dancing Queen” backed by a single piano. It’s reminiscent of what she did in her Spotify Singles session when she covered Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble,” transforming it into a melancholy acoustic experience. Here, she took the poppy disco track and smoothed it out into what feels like a long exhale. It’s a perfectly moody tribute to one of disco’s biggest groups.
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There have been many covers of “Dancing Queen,” with a few coming directly to mind: the original Mamma Mia version, the Meryl Streep Mamma Mia version, and the S Club 7 version. There is also a rock cover by the band Our Last Night, but none have been altered so drastically as Carpenter’s. She effectively changes the entire mood of the song, turning it from a sparkly teen anthem to a moody teen at the school dance anthem.
Carpenter has recently ushered in the holidays with her EP “fruitcake,” a collection of six original Christmas songs that was released today, November 17. The EP is a bold undertaking, as many artists tend to stay away from writing their own holiday songs. Carpenter seems to be of the opinion that the same old Christmas covers are out, and original Christmas songs are in.
The songs are catchy, but they’re overplayed, she sings on “is it new years yet?” Carpenter’s writing style is delightfully candid and humorous, and she plays into that in her Christmas songs. fruitcake draws comparisons to Ariana Grande’s 2015 EP Christmas & Chill, which was a holiday offering that she got downright salacious with. Carpenter has done the same on the opening track “A Nonsense Christmas,” which is a delightfully raunchy holiday-themed remix of her song “Nonsense.”
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