\nAmi Iyer, 23, wears a kiss inspired by Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short and Sweet Album” as she waits for the headliner to perform Saturday. The headliner is expected to draw large crowds decked in pastels, glitter and pink as a nod to the star’s style. (Lily Kepner\/American-Statesman)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Pre-show tension<\/h2>\n
Before the first note, chaos briefly took center stage. A staffer rushed in, asking fans to step back, while a red-screen warning flashed: \u201cPLEASE TAKE A FEW STEPS BACK AND THE SHOW WILL RESUME SHORTLY.\u201d Murmurs rose, the crowd shuffled, then cheers rippled out. Order restored, the show began.<\/p>\n
Projected news-clip footage cut to darkness: Sabrina, cast as a startled newscaster, asked, \u201cDo you know where your husband is?\u201d Then she appeared\u2014 gingham top, curly hair bouncing, denim shorts, dance moves straight from an \u201980s workout video \u2014 for \u201cBusy Woman.”<\/p>\n
She came out swinging, and the crowd was hers.<\/p>\n
Eras end, fashion shifts but the energy stays<\/h2>\n
Mi Vuong leaned over: \u201cHave you noticed her style has changed?\u201d Gone are the corsets and sparkles of her \u201cShort \u2019n Sweet\u201d days; now it\u2019s gingham, boots, cowgirl vibes, and curls that bounce on command.<\/p>\n
The momentum turned country with \u201cSlim\u00a0Pickins.\u201d Before \u201cManchild,\u201d, a parody ad for \u201cManchild Spray\u201d played like a Febreze spoof \u2014 cleaning up men, literally. When Sabrina sang it, she line-danced during the bridge, twirling an imaginary lasso and locking eyes with the audience. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful,\u201d she murmured twice, shaking her head in disbelief.<\/p>\n
During \u201cGood Graces\u201d she forced the crowd to yell back, \u201cI won\u2019t give a [expletive] about you!\u201d \u2014 girl power, zero apologies. She thanked fans for camping out and quipped, \u201cEverything\u2019s bigger in Texas, that\u2019s what they say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scattered around, personal dramas unfolded. Mi\u2019s friend gasped, \u201cOh my god, he messaged me back,\u201d and two strangers leaned in with advice \u2014 don\u2019t text him now. Mi confiscated the phone. These are Sabrina\u2019s people \u2014 the girls who\u00a0overthink text bubbles and feel every lyric like it\u2019s written for them.<\/p>\n
She slowed for \u201cSharpest Tool in the Shed,\u201d raw and human, then nodded to her past: \u201cAll Because I Liked a Boy\u201d erupted into fireworks.<\/p>\n
Two divas, one stage (and Djo gets cuffed)<\/h2>\n
Then \u2014 Shania entered. The crowd lost it. Together, they sang \u201cThat Don\u2019t Impress Me Much,\u201d a perfect mash-up of nostalgia and reinvention.<\/p>\n
Her dancers moved in couples onstage while Sabrina changed outfits; dance breaks are her playground \u2014 a moment she commands in \u201cTears.\u201d Later she reappeared in a pastel-blue mini for \u201cNonsense,\u201d followed by \u201cFeather.\u201d Hearing \u201cI feel so much lighter like a feather with you off my mind\u201d hit me in the gut \u2014 the end of my own\u00a0situationship just one day before ACL suddenly felt like a blessing.<\/p>\n
Before \u201cBed\u00a0Chem,\u201d the screens flashed “Parental Discretion Advised.” Sabrina crooned from a bed, remixed Ginuwine\u2019s \u201cPony\u201d into the bridge, red lights bleeding across the stage. Seductive, confident, in full control.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always looking for love in every city,\u201d she teased mid-set as the police-like camera found\u00a0Djo \u2014 a.k.a. Joe Keery\u2014 front and center. \u201cThis one\u2019s for you, Djo,\u201d she said, waving and launching into \u201cJuno.\u201d Fireworks exploded during the guitar solo, a wink to her rock edge and the kind of\u00a0ACL moment fans will brag about for years.<\/p>\n
That’s that Sabrina espresso<\/h2>\n
Her final act felt cinematic. \u201cTears\u201d played against storm projections; she rose on a platform for \u201cDon\u2019t Smile,\u201d a sea of phone flashlights flickering below like constellations. She closed with \u201cEspresso,\u201d and fans poured out of Zilker Park onto Barton Springs Road \u2014 giddy, buzzing, and energized because, well, yes \u2014 that\u2019s that Sabrina espresso.<\/p>\n
After Saturday night, one thing was clear: Sabrina Carpenter isn\u2019t just Taylor Swift\u2019s possible opener anymore \u2014 she\u2019s her own headliner, in full command of her reinvention, her crowd and her narrative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the stage lights dropped and the surprise guest finally appeared Saturday night at Austin City Limits, the crowd screamed so loud you\u2019d think Taylor Swift had actually shown up. But as the spotlight hit,\u00a0it wasn\u2019t Taylor \u2014 it was Shania Twain. The two divas launched into \u201cThat Don\u2019t Impress Me Much,\u00a0\u201dcementing Sabrina\u2019s country-leaning reinvention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2070560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[337913,387899,27664,384992,23084],"class_list":["post-2070559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-austin-city-limits","tag-reinvention","tag-sabrina-carpenter","tag-saturday-night","tag-taylor-swift"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sabrina-Carpenter-takes-the-reins-at-ACL-2025-with-Shania.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2070559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2070561,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070559\/revisions\/2070561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2070560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2070559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2070559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2070559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}