Sabrina Carpenter: Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice - BST Hyde Park 2025 - Review
- Sonic Hub
- Jul 8
- 5 min read
It’s Sabrina’s world, and we’re all just living in it. With an all-women-led lineup, Sabrina Carpenter’s second headlining day at BST Hyde Park felt like a fun, carefree, heart-shaped night out with 65,000 of your besties.
At the Great Oak Stage Olivia Dean immediately got everyone moving, even stealing the hearts of those who had only come for headliner Sabrina Carpenter. With the wind blowing through the singer’s hair and minimal pink staging providing a true main character moment, Dean’s vocals gripped and engaged the audience fully. Her varied setlist included new singles from her upcoming album ‘The Art of Loving’ (out September 26th), as well as staples such as ‘Dive’ and ‘The Hardest Part’, and the beloved ‘It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be’ from ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’. With an eclectic audience, more engaged than on previous BST days, it felt like an excellent start to the day.
“Happy Pride weekend, where are all my gays at?” asked Chloe Qisha, in light of it being Pride in London. Surrounded by the black and red hues of the stage’s backdrop, Qisha delivered one of our favourite sets of the day, immediately getting people dancing. ‘Evelyn’, for the unrequited lovers out there, brought a pop-rock tinge to the set that made the audience erupt in dance, while the recently released ‘The Boys’ took the crowd into pure pop bliss. The vibes were carefree, the perfect set to lean into an evening of fun.
Next up, Clairo demonstrated why she is your cool girl’s cool girl. Taking over the Great Oak Stage, there was carefreeness and elegance to her movements that was enthralling to watch, and the same can be said of her band. The staging, resembling an intimate studio session, added to the experience.
‘Bags’, the queer anthem exploring one’s first queer romantic experience, became a cathartic moment, especially a day after the capital’s city-wide Pride celebrations, with pockets of the crowd screaming the lyrics powerfully.
“London, you guys are fun… a little sexy too,” Clairo teased as she began ‘Sexy to Someone’, and the crowd swayed side to side. Clairo is an excellent musician, and that is so palpable. The set ended with the fan-favourite ‘Sofia’, which got everyone singing as a chill way to end the day’s supporting acts slots.
As the evening unfolded, fans who had been at the barricade since the early morning waited patiently for their favourite to arrive. Sabrina Carpenter is a force to be reckoned with, and while her rise to superstardom may seem sudden, it is clear that the 26-year-old is a seasoned professional. Treading the tightrope between 50s-inspired sex symbol and satirical yassified cartoon caricature, Carpenter’s stage persona shows a refreshing versatility that’s partly innate and partly the product of having been in the business for as long as she can remember: though ‘Espresso’ catapulted her to colossal fame, ‘Short n’ Sweet’ is actually her sixth album. This comes across in the professionalism and strategic art direction of the show, from the vintage-inspired set to the 50s commercial-style videos played between songs, to the carefully choreographed routines.
Opening with ‘Busy Woman’, Carpenter had the crowd wrapped around her finger from the start. There’s a physicality to her performance that’s unique, maybe it’s her acting background, or maybe it’s simply that she’s always known who she wanted to be, as she recently mentioned in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
Thousands of fans emulated her signature look: mini babydoll dress, heart cutouts, platform boots, with TikToks showing detailed outfit planning and DIY efforts ahead of the day. This is a testament to how Carpenter is constantly on top of the moment, but also a pop-culture meaning maker. From the NSFW innuendos of the ‘Nonsense’ outros, which changed from city to city, to recent discourse, one thing is certain: she is far from trying to be everyone’s cup of tea. Think of her newest album cover for ‘Man’s Best Friend’, where she’s seen on the floor with her hair being pulled by an unidentified man, the emulation of the ‘Eiffel Tower’ sex position during ‘Bed Chem’ in a gig in Paris, which sparked millions of op-eds, or even her iconic kiss with actor Jenna Ortega in the ‘Taste’ music video. It’s clear she is no longer just a part of the zeitgeist; she’s actively shaping it.
Her crowd is paradoxical at best. On one side, children and teens with their parents, likely fans since her Disney’s ‘Girl Meets World' days, sing along to every lyric. On the other hand, twenty and thirty-something women resonate with her sense of liberation. This contrast becomes especially clear before ‘Bed Chem’ when a parental advisory warning flashes on screen, or when she gets the crowd to scream, “I’m so fucking horny!”— an unequivocal testament to her wide appeal.
One of the most euphoric moments of the night came when Carpenter oddly asked the audience to howl, which they did, diligently. The reason soon became clear, as 80s icons Duran Duran joined her onstage to perform ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’, which was an unexpected pairing that, in the end, made perfect sense. It’s been refreshing to see artists like Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo introducing their fans to artists they might not otherwise discover (see: Rodrigo bringing out Robert Smith of The Cure for ‘Friday I’m in Love’ at Glastonbury).
‘Juno’, one of the set’s most iconic moments where Carpenter "arrests a pretty audience member for the night", was made even more special when the “arrested” girls turned out to be actor Ayo Edebiri and fellow lineup act Clairo. The duo jokingly broke into the Apple dance, prompting Carpenter to retort, “So it’s close, it’s just a different show!”. She then funnily addressed the online discourse around “Clairo shade,” an A+ moment for the chronically online fans.
Just before performing the hit ‘Don’t Smile’, the singer descended into the audience, touching those who had been at the barricade for most of the day. Her relationship with fans is genuine, and it’s evident that this resonates. The moment culminated in Carpenter getting on a raised platform and hovering over the crowd, engaging with fans that were further along the park and reading their carefully crafted signs.
At last, the monumental ‘Espresso’ began as fireworks lit up the sky and 65,000 fans sang in unison. It's hard to believe the song only turned one recently. Sabrina Carpenter is not an overnight success; she’s the result of perseverance and relentless artistic growth, and watching her feels like witnessing an old-school pop star, without the shackles of tired tropes once relegated to women artists. That’s exactly why she’s here to stay.
BST Hyde Park continues throughout the summer, with upcoming headliners including Neil Young and The Crazy Horse, Stevie Wonder, and Jeff Lynne’s ELO set to grace the stage. For more information and FAQs, please visit BST Hyde Park’s website.
WORDS ANA PINTO & BEA VASQUES
PHOTOS ALL CREDIT TO THE PHOTOGRAPHERS ABOVE MENTIONED
Comments