A Mini Review Of Sabrina Carpenter's "Good Luck, Babe" Cover

Sabrina Carpenter also can’t get “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan out of her head. At a recent performance for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, the pop singer showed appreciation for Roan — who’s also her Island Records labelmate — with a stripped-down, drawl-drenched cover of Chappell’s certified breakup bop.

Whereas Roan’s original version was a synthy, ’80s-reminiscent Kate Bush fever dream, Carpenter channels more of a country-queen sound for her rendition, turning each lyric into a wink over acoustic guitars and live drums. She starts off soft, letting each line roll out with a twang, before kicking the performance into groove with handclaps.

This is hardly the first time that Carpenter — who just scored No. 2 and No. 3 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 with “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” respectively — has shown her love for the Midwest Princess. The two rising pop stars dominated headlines with equally flirty performances over the same weekend at New York’s Governors Ball. And as the “Espresso” singer recently gushed to Rolling Stone, “I listen to Chappell all the time. I’ve got ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ on loopty loop.”

Later in her Live Lounge set, Carpenter performed “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” the latter of which also highlighted her country sensibilities. It’s an unexpected and new side of the 25-year-old’s voice, but one she’s able to showcase masterfully. As producer Jack Antonoff told Rolling Stone, “[Her voice has] an Olivia Newton feeling, there’s a Dolly feeling, there’s an incredibly super modern pop feeling. The little vocal runs she does are so bizarre and unique — they’re doing this really odd, classic, almost yodel-y country thing.” We’ll see what other genre-spanning surprises Sabrina’s got up her sleeve when her sixth album Short N’ Sweet drops Aug. 23.