Christina Aguilera surprises Sabrina Carpenter at show, singers duet

Sabrina Carpenter’s Los Angeles show Friday had a big surprise for concertgoers: Christina Aguilera.

The Burlesque star rose on a platform behind the “Espresso” singer to perform her hit “Ain’t No Other Man” at her latest stop on her Short n’ Sweet tour at the Crypto.com Arena. Carpenter seemed genuinely shocked to see Aguilera emerge, mouthing, ‘What the f—?’ upon seeing her take the stage. Carpenter and her backup singers and dancers excitedly joined the diva for a high-energy rendition of her 2006 single.

The duo then harmonized on a duet of Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants.” They previously performed the song to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the latter’s self-titled debut album in September. At the end of the performance, Aguilera told Carpenter, “I love you so much.”

Just before the 25th anniversary performance earlier this year, Carpenter explained how Aguilera inspired her in a Spotify video. “I’m freaking out,” she said as she greeted her hero. “I think the first time I ever heard your voice was [when] my mom — thank you to my mother — played me a video of you singing at 8 years old ‘A Sunday Kind of Love.’ And that was just, like, the most inspiring thing for me ever to see as a young girl that wanted to sing but didn’t know I could do it at that age.”

Carpenter cited Aguilera’s childhood performance as “the main reason that I started singing, that I wanted to become a singer.”

Aguilera was thrilled to share the song with Carpenter. “It’s fun when you get to reimagine the music,” she said. “Doing this with you is just so creatively thrilling and just exciting to hear it live through other people. I think that’s really so special and to hear your interpretation of ‘What a Girl Wants’ and your inflections on it and to hear your gift on this song. It’s almost like passing it on to new generations. That’s what I love most about music.”

Carpenter’s admiration of Aguilera goes way back. “I love Christina,” Carpenter told Paper Magazine in August. “That was one of my very first idols and icons. I was 11 years old and you couldn’t get her name out of my mouth. She’s very special to me. Those songs raised me.”

The singer shared similar sentiments while promoting her previous album, Emails I Can’t Send. “The first artist I fell in love with was probably Christina Aguilera,” she told NME in 2022. “I wanna say I was like six or seven. I saw a video of her singing ‘A Sunday Kind of Love,’ and she was also like maybe 10 in the video, and I was just mesmerized by her confidence and the power in her voice. Ever since then, I was a stan from day one.”

When she doesn’t have a special guest, Carpenter sometimes pays tribute to two other iconic blonde singers who inspire her during her setlist — at several stops on the Short n’ Sweet tour, she’s covered either Madonna’s “Material Girl” or Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”

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