Sabrina Carpenter Used to Sing At A Pub
Long before she was winning Grammys and performing at packed arenas, Sabrina Carpenter had a much smaller — yet enthusiastic — audience. As a young girl growing up in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, she discovered her love for singing in an unexpected place: a local Irish pub.
The now 25-year-old pop sensation revealed in a recent Vogue cover story that her early performances weren’t on stage but at dinner tables. A waitress named Patty at the Limeport Inn would invite little Sabrina to sing “Happy Birthday” for customers. Sometimes, she even got tips for her performances, though her mom always made her give the money back. “That was a short-lived dream, but also kind of my first real audience,” she joked.
Sabrina always knew she wanted to be a performer. She left traditional school for homeschooling in the fourth grade, making more time for auditions. At just nine years old, she entered a singing contest organized by Miley Cyrus and became a top-three finalist. She didn’t win, but she did get to meet Miley—a “big perk,” as she put it.
Fast forward to 2025, and Sabrina has reunited with Miley once again—this time at the Grammy Awards, where she took home two trophies for Best Pop Solo Performance (Espresso) and Best Pop Vocal Album (Short n’ Sweet).
Still catching her breath from performing Espresso and Please Please Please on stage, Sabrina looked stunned as she accepted her first-ever Grammy. “…I really was not expecting this,” she said, standing at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. “And all those nominees that were just on the screen are some of my favorite artists in the world, and I can’t believe I’m nominated against them, or even in this room right now.”
She went on to thank the Recording Academy, her collaborators, friends, and family. “You have no idea how much I love you and how much this album means to me,” she said.
