Years before winning a Best Pop Solo Performance Grammy for her song “Espresso,” American singer, songwriter, and actress Sabrina Carpenter once performed on Sunday musical variety show ASAP alongside Filipino rapper Shanti Dope.
In 2018, a 19-year old Carpenter took her first ever trip to the Philippines to perform at a series of mall shows. This was not the same lingerie-sporting, tongue-in-cheek pop diva we know today. Back then, Carpenter was at the very start of her music career, sporting baggy sweatpants, sneakers, and a hint of a blaccent (Oh, Sabrina!).
A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it guesting on ASAP at the time, a pre-Short n’ Sweet Carpenter performed her single “Almost Love” from her 2018 album, Singular: Act I. Sharing the stage was a young Shanti Dope, rapping the song’s verses in Filipino. While the rapper was not an original collaborator on “Almost Love,” the collab version of the song can be found on Spotify.
During the Q&A segment of the show, a bright-eyed Carpenter spoke about her newfound love for Filipino sweet treats like Stick-Os and halo-halo, as well as her excitement about performing for her fans in the Philippines.
Seven years ago, Carpenter was still a young singer-songwriter striving to find her footing after finishing her tenure on the Disney channel series, Girl Meets World. Fast forward to today after six studio albums and a lot of experimentation, Carpenter has earned her status as a global pop icon.
Her latest and arguably most popular album, Short n’ Sweet, earned six nominations at this year’s Grammy Awards. At the time of writing, Carpenter has already won two out of her six Grammy nominations.
