In Sabrina Carpenter's catchy new single, "Espresso," she sings "I'm working late, 'cause I'm a singer." She'll live up to that line later this month when she makes her debut on "Saturday Night Live."
Carpenter — an actress and singer who was born and raised in the Philly suburbs — will be the musical guest on the May 18 episode of "SNL," the Season 49 finale, which will be hosted by Jake Gyllenhaal.
During her "SNL" set, Carpenter is almost sure to perform "Espresso," which she released last month and is already being called a front-runner for the song of the summer. Throughout her music career so far, Carpenter has released five albums, including 2022's "Emails I Can't Send," which garnered explosive success with tracks like "Nonsense" and "Feather."
But with its dance-inducing beat, earworm-worthy lyrics — just try to get "That's that me, espresso" out of your head — and a splashy music video to match, "Espresso" became Carpenter's first to hit the Billboard top 10.
Her "SNL" gig comes in the wake of Carpenter's Coachella debut, as well as her run as the opener for a string of international dates on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour — which she previously attended in Philadelphia as a fan and famous friend of Swift herself. During downtime at Coachella, Carpenter was spotted hanging out with her rumored flame, actor Barry Keoghan, along with Swift and her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Carpenter, 24, was born in Quakertown, Bucks County, and grew up in East Greenville, Montgomery County, where she was homeschooled. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment at age 13. Along with her music career, Carpenter also is an actress who's best-known role was in the Disney Channel series "Girl Meets World" — a reboot of '90s Philly-based sitcom "Boy Meets World" — which ran from 2014 to 2017.
Following the announcement of Carpenter's "SNL" gig on Thursday, fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to "espresso" their excitement for the pop star's performance.
Fans also riffed off the fact that Carpenter would be appearing during Gyllenhaal's episode. Gyllenhaal is famously believed to be the inspiration behind Swift's breakup song "All Too Well," and the even more scathing "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)," which Swift performed on "SNL" in 2021. The lore is further complicated, for people who are a little too online anyway, by the fact that "Barbie" star Ryan Gosling spoofed "All Too Well" during his "SNL" monologue last month.
Before Carpenter's debut, the next new episode of "SNL" will air Saturday, with host and musical guest Dua Lipa. In case you're one of the few people in the world who haven't heard "Espresso" yet, give it a listen below to learn the lyrics and perfect your dance moves ahead of Carpenter's performance:
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