Producing Songs I’ve Never Heard: Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter [EPISODE 09]

What if Sabrina Carpenter went full Y2K alt pop instead of country?

The votes are in – with all the new releases dropping last week, Sabrina Carpenter came out on top. So for this episode, I’m taking on her brand new single, Manchild.

After a string of successful summer singles last year, I was excited to see what she had in store for 2025. I went into it expecting more of the likes of Espresso, Taste and Please, Please, Please, something fun and flirty, what we’ve come to know her for. This vocal definitely delivered on the fun front - filled with lots of cheekiness from beginning to end. One thing that stood out was how much more country-leaning this vocal was compared to her usual material - plus all the talky, spoken-word-style moments sprinkled throughout.

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🎤 Here’s the acapella if you want to play along and hear what I heard first:

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This week I’ll be working only with sounds from one sample pack: Arcando Drum & Bass by Dropgun Samples on Splice. It was in the “what’s new this week” list on Splice’s browse page and seemed like it had a lot of good samples and presets to play around with.

For this track, I decided to start with synths to map out the chord progression and create a tonal foundation for each of the sections. I laid it out temporarily with a synth pad to start, but then quickly switched over to a bass sound to bring in a bit of an edgier vibe. I alternated between a shorter riff in the “talkier” sections to give more impact and allow the vocals to breathe and longer notes for the verses and hook where the vocal was more melodic.

With the bass locked in, I moved on to drums to bring energy and movement into the track. I kept the arrangement relatively simple after that, choosing to add a pluck to fill in some more of the high end and a bunch of fx samples to add some ear candy and smooth out the transitions.

Something about the end result gave me this odd but satisfying mix between the BH 90210 theme song and Man! I Feel Like a Woman! by Shania Twain — a wild combo, but surprisingly fitting for Sabrina’s vocal energy.

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🎧 Haven’t heard the original yet? Check it out here:

I have to say, hearing the original version for the first time was a trip. I didn’t expect them to lean that hard into the country twang. It felt like the production choices fed into the humor of the lyrics and amplified the playfulness. Some of those guitar and fiddle riffs were definitely… choices 🤠 and I’m honestly not sure how I felt about it, but none-the-less, it was a fun track. Definitely a departure from her releases last summer.

What did you think? Were you a fan of the country-hoedown sound? Let me know in the comments!

📼 If you enjoyed this episode, you can find all previous episodes here.

📊 Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and vote in the next song poll!