Sabrina Carpenter slays as Swift’s opener at The Eras Tour in Singapore

Sabrina Carpenter was in Quezon City last July for  her “Emails I Can’t Send Tour”, held at the New Frontier  Theater which can hold up to 2,385 people.

One of those in attendance was Kapamilya actress Andrea Brillantes who was luckily chosen to be interviewed by the American singer-songwriter about a relationship gone sour during the show’s “unSABscribe” segment where she would sing one of her songs that is appropriate to a fan’s situation.

Most everyone in the audience knew Brillantes was talking about her ex, basketball player Ricci Rivero. Carpenter had no clue that she was talking to a popular actress. She asked the audience, “You all know this guy?”, to which the crowd responded with a resounding yes.

She further asked, “How big is Manila?”, implying that the city must be that small for everyone to know what happened to the leading star of “Senior High.”

That was one of many instances where Carpenter showcased one of her strengths as a stage performer: her ability to connect with her audience. This is probably why Taylor Swift selected her as opening act for her Singapore shows, where Carpenter got to sing to a crowd of around 61,000 at the Singapore National Stadium every night -- 25 times her Manila crowd.

Before Carpenter started her set, a video of her singing Swift’s “Picture to Burn” was played to show how much of a fan the 24-year-old is. She cited Swift as one of her influences, especially in her songwriting. Chucks of Swift-isms can in fact be heard in her latest album “emails i can’t send.”

She kicked off her performance with “Read your Mind” and “vicious”, the perfect songs to begin her 45-minute set the same way that these tunes served as appropriate openers for her 39-minute album. Sang in between these tracks was “Feather”, her track that is currently trending online, especially on TikTok. In the pre-chorus, she sings: “Slam the door / I hit the ignore / I’m saying ‘No, no, no, no more’ / I got you blocked, excited to never talk / I’m so sorry for your loss.”

These three songs solidify why Carpenter is the perfect opener for Swift. They mix theatrics, pop star energy, and relatability. She is probably the best case of Swift’s influence on a new generation of singer-songwriters as entertaining performers that also include Carpenter’s peer Olivia Rodrigo.

Another example of Swift’s influence on Sabrina is “because i liked a boy”, a song she wrote as a response to the slut-shaming she received over the public love triangle involving her, Rodrigo, and their ex Joshua Bassett following the release of Rodrigo’s “driver’s license.”

For most of her career, Swift had to endure misogynistic backlash over the way she wrote about her relationships, which also happened to Rodrigo and Carpenter for their unapologetic expressions of how their relationships turned out. It feels fitting for Carpenter to perform that song on the “Eras Tour” stage.

It was a perfect opportunity for Carpenter to open for “The Eras Tour.” The main show focuses on Swift singing her classic and current hits as Swifites were taken on a nostalgic ride of her life and fantasies portrayed through music. Think of Carpenter’s show as a companion piece to “The Eras Tour.”

Most fans, simply called Carpenters, had a sense that she would most likely perform songs from her latest album and future records going forward. Shying away from her Disney Channel days, her setlist was entirely composed of tracks from her latest album, such as “already over”, “tornado warnings”, “opposite”, and “Fast Times.” It makes sense as she finally became a household name with her fifth album where she transitioned from teen star to one of today's promising Gen Z acts.

The only exception in the setlist is her cover of “Dancing Queen”, giving a beautiful rendition of the ABBA classic.

Of course, it would not be a Carpenter show without her concluding with “nonsense”, a highly infectious track where she sings randomly rhymed lyrics to illustrate her anxiety over a guy she likes to the point that her blabbers are nonsensical.

Every time she performs a song, she always ends it with an improvised outro that is unique in every show. It’s usually playfully explicit and it incorporates wordplay on the city she's performing in.

For the March 4 Singapore show, her outro was: “This crowd ate me up like I’m an omelette / I swear I’m coming back here that’s a promise / You clear all my sing-a-pores I’m flawless.”

When looking back on the videos from Carpenter’s performance, I couldn’t help but laugh at how I responded after she ended the show. I screamed out “SABRINAAAAAA COME TO CEBUUUUUUUU”, which became a joke with my friend Jane Licardo who was with me at the concert because of how random that was.

However, I rationalize that random praise with my feeling that Carpenter could give a great show if she was in Cebu for her headline tour last year.

If Carpenter will be doing arena tours, the upcoming SM Seaside Arena will be a perfect venue for her. The Grand Pacific Ballroom at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, which can hold up to 7,000 depending on the size of the stage, is also a good option.

Wherever she performs in Cebu, there's no doubt it will be one for the books.