O2 Arena, London
This 1970s variety show complete with title cards, cheesy voiceover and overt sexiness could be Carry On Carpenter, but the star has more in her arsenal than just kooky camp

On a sleek white stage made to look like a 1960s New York penthouse, one of pop music’s biggest exponents Sabrina Carpenter is sitting on the toilet. A few seconds earlier she’d wiped down the seat with a tissue before taking her spot to sing Sharpest Tool, a sweary, country-flecked bop about a hapless man who found God at his ex’s house.

It’s a brilliantly bonkers vista that encapsulates Carpenter’s ability to fuse unfiltered emotional sincerity with a heavy dose of kooky camp. Think peak era Katy Perry mixed with every era Dolly Parton. As one-third of last year’s pop girl summer alongside Charli xcx’s blitzkrieg agit-rave and Chappell Roan’s vampy queer anthems, the 25-year-old American not only dominated the charts – her three UK No 1s from star-making sixth album Short n’ Sweet spent 21 weeks at the top spot in 2024 – but she did it with a refreshing nudge and a wink.