With the holiday season finally taking its full swing across all platforms including streaming and social media, the rising pop artist, Sabrina Carpenter, has released her own special, “A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter,” on Netflix. Sabrina Carpenter has prospered in popularity this year with her single, “Espresso,” and released her newest album, “Short n’ Sweet,” in August of this year. In this special, she performs with artists Chappell Roan, Tyla, Shania Twain, and Kali Uchis.
This special is seemingly comparable to Saturday Night Live [SNL], a popular comedy show in which multiple hosts, including music artists and actors, performing skits and musical performances. This special includes holiday classics and Carpenters’ holiday hits. Not only does the special feature Carpenter, but it includes Nico Hiraga, Quinta Brunson, Cara Delevingne, Kyle Mooney, Negan Stalter, Sean Astin, Owen Thiele, and Jillian Bell.
To begin her special, Carpenter starts by playing one her song, “buy me presents,” from her holiday extended play [EP], “fruitcake.” In the song, she discusses her desire for her partner to spoil her with gifts because of how much they care for you. After this, she changes into a different costume and introduces the audience to what the special is, then singing the special version of the song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” In the song, she changes the lyrics to her style and focuses on the themes of her album.
The show begins with a skit where Carpenter is making an Espresso Martini. Soon, Tyla makes an appearance, where they do a duet of “This Christmas.” The song is made more upbeat by both of their singing as they perform in the set of her living room. Towards the end, they encourage watchers to get up at dance being supremely different since this is typically a song to be danced to. Afterwards, Carpenter performs a solo of her song, “santa doesn’t know you like i do.” This song expresses the emotional complexity of longing for connection and romance during the holiday season. While Santa symbolises the cheerful aspects of Christmas, he cannot embody the deep connections in a relationship.
Eventually moving to the second duet, Carpenter performs, “Santa Baby,” with Shania Twain. Putting a country twist on the song, the two sing the song about their expensive wishlist for Santa. During a skit, Carpenter sings an electronic-like song, where she is unsure about what to get for her interesting brother-in-law who is played by Kyle Mooney. In the song, she discusses all the other things her family enjoys while being unsure about her brother-in-law. In the end, she gives him a random gift allowing her to move on peacefully.
Then, Carpenter has her third duet with Kali Uchis singing “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” This song is one of the many prominent holiday hits, but it just focuses on a theoretical situation where a mother was supposedly “making out” with Santa while her kids watched. Symphonizing to all Carpenter and Uchis brought peace and comfort to all listeners. Carpenter then leads to the third skit where Hiraga plays her ex and she plays the ghosted of Christmas past. Similar to Scrooge, her ex tries to provide excuses till the ghosted of Christmas present played by Brunson comes. She then also explains how she feels, however also being provided with excuses. When the ghosted of christmas future comes Delevingne instantly falls for Hiraga until the other two protect her. Hiraga changes his ways, promising to not ghost anyone in the future and give his editor Bob Cratchit the day off.
Carpenter performs her final duet with Roan singing “Last Christmas” by the band “Wham!”. The original song was created as a love confession from “George Michael” to his other member “Andrew Ridgeley”. Ridgley unaware of this romance Michael evnetailly confessed his feelings till later causing a rift between the two. Both bring a graceful symphony that brings joy to all listeners. Moving on to her third solo Carpenter performs “cindy lou who” about one of her ex lovers where she wished things would have been different for the two. To finally close off the night she sings her hit “A Nonsense Christmas”. This song is a blend of her biggest hit “Nonsense” blended with the holiday season.
Although this special may be another Comedic Musical Celebrity special this is truly different. Unlike others Carpenter brings her own mix on both holidays and music itself. This special is a combination of carefully curated music with classic traditions fused into one special. Although unlike the other Hallmark specials for this season “A Nonsense Christmas” will be one to remember.
