Sabrina Carpenter released her latest single, “Manchild,” and it’s safe to say the internet is already obsessed. After days of teasing the song and accompanying music video, Carpenter dropped the tune on June 5. But eagle-eyed fans have finally put together that Carpenter teased some “Manchild” lyrics months ago at a show in Copenhagen.
The synth-pop song starts with Carpenter laughing, saying, “Oh, boy.” She sings in the first verse, “You said your phone was broken, just forgot to charge it / Whole outfit you’re wearing, God, I hope it’s ironic / Did you just say you’re finished? Didn’t know we started / It’s all just so familiar, baby, what do you call it?”
Carpenter continues in the catchy chorus, “Man-child / Why you always come a-running to me? / F*ck my life / Won’t you let an innocent woman be? / Never heard of self-care / Half your brain just ain’t there / Man-child / Why you always come a-running, taking all my loving from me?”
Here’s where the teased lyrics come in. Carpenter sings in the second verse, “Why so sexy if so dumb? / And how survive the Earth so long? / If I’m not there, it won’t get done / I choose to blame your mom.” At Carpenter’s second performance in Copenhagen on April Fool’s Day earlier this year, Carpenter wore a pair of tights with the phrase “I choose to blame your mom” written on them. This is a Taylor Swift-level Easter egg if I ever saw one.
While some fans caught the phrase, not many figured it was a teaser for a future single. One user on X wrote at the time, “Which song is this from? My brain is blank.” Another user wrote, “It’s gotta be another April Fool’s joke.” Someone else asked, “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?”
Now that fans know the meaning behind the tights, they’re gagging at how iconic the move was, calling her a “mastermind.”
That wasn’t the only Easter egg Carpenter fed her fans. In the days leading up to the “Manchild” release, a number of billboards popped up in Houston, Texas, displaying lyrics to the new song. They read, “Manchild,” “Amen,” “Hey men!,” and “I swear they choose me, I’m not choosing them.”
Most of those phrases are lyrics from the “Manchild” bridge, which goes, “Oh, I like my boys playing hard to get / And I like my men all incompetent / And I swear they choose me, I’m not choosing them / Amen, hey, men.”
As fans of Taylor Swift know, sometimes the clues and Easter eggs are half the fun when it comes to new music. And if this new Sabrina era means it’s time for some detective-level sleuthing, consider me Sherlock Holmes.