Following the release of her chart-topping singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” Sabrina Carpenter made her debut appearance on this week’s episode of “Hot Ones.” In addition to trying her luck with the infamously spicy wings of death, Carpenter sat down with host Sean Evans to discuss the craft of songwriting and her most memorable fan interaction.
It’s Carpenter’s “Espresso” — which currently sits at number four on the Billboard Top 100 — that inspired several memes poking fun at the song’s main hook. In it, Carpenter sings, “That’s that me espresso,” a catchphrase many of her fans found catchy yet utterly ridiculous. Carpenter explained that she intentionally kept the syntax tacky in her song.
“So much of what I like is the punchline. If people don’t know the punchline, it’s like, waste,” she explained. “That’s how I feel about ‘me espresso.’ I’ve heard a lot of people that were like, ‘She should’ve said, That’s that blonde espresso, duh.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, yes. That is another song as well that deserves its spot in the world, but this one for me … ‘me espresso’ just felt like the right thing to say, and it rhymes with the line before it.’”
“I just think it’s so funny,” she added. “Maybe everyone’s right.”
Elsewhere in her interview, the pop star spoke more about interacting with her fans live during her shows. Several of those interactions have gone viral across social media, notably on TikTok. Carpenter explained that she likes “to take people out of the show for a second, it just makes it feel a little bit more like a slumber party or something.” Although, there was one particular interaction that she said left her stunned.
“Someone told me their dad left,” Carpenter said. “This is not funny, by the way, this is how I felt! … You know, you have people recording, being like, ‘Oh, so she makes light of people’s dad’s leaving —’ it’s like, ‘No! Oh my gosh!’”
She continued, saying, “Usually the person has a good sense of humor if they’re telling me that their dad left in front of a crowd of a couple thousand people. So I was taken aback, and then somehow it turned into a really beautiful conversation, and I was able to segue into my next song.”
As the wings got increasingly spicy, Carpenter slowly lost her composure, asking Evans in one instance if a guest had ever projectile vomited in front of him. “Never in front of me, believe it or not,” he said before asking the singer, “Why, do you think you might?”
“No no, I just want to make sure that I’m setting a standard,” Carpenter joked.
“I do remember one time, when I ate something so hot I started clawing at the ground,” she later told Evans. “I don’t think I’m going to do that [now].”
Although she didn’t do exactly that, Carpenter was in disbelief after eating a chicken wing smothered in “Da Bomb” hot sauce. “Do you do this to yourself willingly? Has anyone ever sued you?” she asked Evans.
Watch the full "Hot Ones" episode below, courtesy of YouTube:
