Sabrina carpenter Has officially entered the race for 2025’s Song of the Summer with the release of its latest single, “Manchild.” Dropped Thursday evening over digital platforms, the track doubles on the stylish, heavy-in-Kind tone that she has recently become known for and takes sharp goal against immature men with a sound that mixes Retro Synth-pop with modern pop.
Co-written with Amy Allen and Jack Antonoff, who also co-produced track, “Manchild” follows closely in the thematic footsteps of Carpenter’s chart-top single “Please please please.” With cutting texts like “Fuck my life, will you not leave an innocent woman? / Have you never heard of self -care / half the brain just not there,” and “Oh, I like my boys playing hard to get / and I like my men all incompetent,” The song plays as a biting yet playful comment about romantic misunderstanding and captures chaos of young adult age with humor and bites.
The song’s music video premiered Friday morning and leans on surreal satire. In the video, Carpenter hits over a desert landscape, which meets an absurd male caricature after another – everything from one man riding on a jet ski on land to another washing of the face with gasoline. The visuals reflect the track’s lyrical message: a winding path of frustrating relationships that in some way still feels like a joyride.
Its release comes on the heel of Short n ‘cute and continues momentum on her breakout year. In a statement on Instagram, she called the song “A embodiment of a loving eye roll” and a soundtrack to “confusing and fun young adult years of life.”
Although not confirmed, speculation has swirled about the track draws inspiration from her previous relationship with actor Barry Keoghan. The texts do not mention anyone by name, but fans quickly linked the dots-separated after Carpenter teased the single with a not so subtle caption: “This one is about you !!”
Carpenters and Keoghan became public at the beginning of 2024 but were reportedly divorced in December. Since then, the singer has remained focused on his career, with “Manchild” which marked his second big single in recent months. As with her viral hit “Espresso”, she debuted the new track live on Primavera Sound in Barcelona.
Whether “Manchild” stops top charts or not, it is another sharp, strategic entry into Carpenter’s growing pop reperto-to balance sarcasm, self-awareness and undeniable summer appeal.
Look at the entire music video below!
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