Sabrina Carpenter Takes Flight at Grammys With ‘Manchild’ Performance, Gives Censors a Test With F-Words

Sabrina Carpenter took flight at the Grammys on Sunday, transforming Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena into an airport to perform “Manchild” and giving censors a test with a series of F-bombs on the song’s chorus.

Descending from a carousel out of an airplane, the singer performed the lead single off last year’s “Man’s Best Friend” alongside workers in the airport. “Hey Grammys, how ya doing? It’s your captain Sabrina speaking,” she told the crowd in a spoken-word moment. “If you came here tonight for a little validation, stand up and I want you to put your hands together!” At the end, she picked up two traffic wands, waving all the imaginary planes by before tossing them towards the audience.

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This marks the second consecutive year that Carpenter has performed on the Grammys stage. In 2025, she made her Grammys debut with a cheeky rendition of her smash hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” faking stage errors and pulling performance gags.

Last year, she was a first-time nominee with nods for album of the year, best new artist, best pop vocal album, song of the year for “Please Please Please” and record of the year for “Espresso.” She walked away with two trophies last year: one for “Espresso,” which won in the best pop solo performance category, and another for “Short n’ Sweet,” which won best pop vocal album.

Carpenter was nominated in six categories for this year’s Grammys. “Manchild,” the hit single off her album “Man’s Best Friend,” was honored in record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance and best music video. “Man’s Best Friend” was nominated for album of the year and best pop vocal album.

The pop star has been tirelessly touring the globe since the fall of 2022, when she took her first post-Disney album “Emails I Can’t Send” on the road. Her “Short n’ Sweet” tour kicked off in September 2024 and only recently wrapped with six nights at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena in November 2025. She is next slated to take the stage as a headliner for both weekends of Coachella 2026, taking place in April.