The friendship between Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter has been my favorite thing since they sat beside each other at the AMAs in 2022. Although the two of them go back even further with Swift sending Carpenter packages and the “Feather” singer talking about how much she loves her friend, Carpenter really started being part of Swift’s inner circle beginning in Summer 2023. Since then, Carpenter has opened for the Eras Tour in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia.
What I’d wanted for many years, but wasn’t sure would ever happen finally did the Eras Tour’s first night in Sydney, Australia: A duet between the two popstars.
Carpenter’s set on Feb. 23 was cut short due to weather issues and the audience had to evacuate from Sydney’s Accor Stadium. However, that didn’t stop Carpenter from getting to perform. In fact, she got to do a duet mashup of “White Horse” and “Coney Island” with Swift, much like what happened with Gracie Abrams on July 1 when her set got cut short and they did a duet of Abrams’ song, “I Miss You, I’m Sorry.”
Before they performed, Swift gave a speech introducing the “Nonsense” singer saying, “My incredibly talented, wonderful, gorgeous, hilarious, genius opening act Sabrina Carpenter! She heroically sacrificed her show which I think is a crime against Sydney and I think it needs to be fixed!” Carpenter then began singing “White Horse” before Swift jumped in and sang “Coney Island,” with the two harmonizing beautifully together.
Before they were friends, Carpenter was an OG Swiftie and sang many covers of the Grammy winner’s songs on her YouTube channel, including “Picture to Burn” and “White Horse.” When Carpenter opened for Swift in August 2023 in Mexico, she began her set with a video of her singing “Picture to Burn” from her YouTube days.
Given that Swift and Carpenter have overlapping fandoms, the internet immediately obsessed over their duet performance in Sydney, which was a full-circle moment.
Fans were also quick to bring up a post that Carpenter made on X (previously Twitter) back in 2012 when she was ten years old. In the post, she wrote, “I love Everything about Taylor Swift #swifty.” Not only is Carpenter still a Swiftie, but she’s now gotten to perform in a stadium for thousands of people alongside Swift for a duet.
After being fans of both of these singers for many years, I’ll never shut up about this moment. I’m so proud of and happy for Sabrina in what must have been a surreal moment for her.
I’m holding out hope that a studio duet between Swift and Carpenter is in our future, but until then, I’ll be watching this “White Horse/Coney Island” duet and being jealous of everyone who was in the crowd.