Christina Aguilera surprises Sabrina Carpenter for show, sings duet

Sabrina Carpenter’s Los Angeles show on Friday had a big surprise for concertgoers: Christina Aguilera.

The Burlesque star rose on a platform behind the “Espresso” singer to perform her hit “Ain’t No Other Man” at her latest stop on her Short n’ Sweet tour at the Crypto.com Arena. Carpenter seemed genuinely shocked to see Aguilera appear, mouthing, “What the f—?” after seeing her take the stage. Carpenter and her backup singers and dancers enthusiastically joined in the diva for an energetic rendition of her 2006 single.

Then the duo harmonized on a duet of Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants”. They previously performed the song to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the latter’s self-titled debut album in September. At the end of the performance, Aguilera told Carpenter, “I love you so much.”

Just before the 25th anniversary performance earlier this year, Carpenter explained how Aguilera inspired her in a Spotify video. “I’m freaking out,” she said as she greeted her hero. “I think the first time I ever heard your voice was (when) my mom — thanks to my mom — played me a video of you singing ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’ as an 8-year-old. And that was like the most inspiring thing for me ever to see as a young girl who wanted to sing but didn’t know I could do it at that age.”

Carpenter cited Aguilera’s childhood performance as “the main reason I started singing, that I wanted to be a singer.”

Aguilera was thrilled to share the song with Carpenter. “It’s fun when you get to recreate the music,” she said. “Doing this with you is just so creatively exciting and just exciting to hear it live through other people. I think it’s really so special. And hearing your interpretation of ‘What a Girl Wants’ and your inflections on it and hearing your gift on this song is almost like passing it on to new generations. That’s what I love most about music.”

Carpenter’s admiration for Aguilera goes way back. “I Love Christina,” Carpenter told Paper magazine in August. “It was one of my very first idols and icons. I was 11 years old and you couldn’t get her name out of my mouth. She is very special to me. Those songs raised me.”

The singer shared similar sentiments while promoting her previous album, Emails I can’t send. “The first artist I fell in love with was probably Christina Aguilera,” she told NME in 2022. “I’d like to say I was 6 or 7. I saw a video of her singing ‘A Sunday Kind of Love,’ and she was maybe 10 in the video, and I was just mesmerized by her confidence and power in her voice Ever since then I was a stan, from day one.”

When she doesn’t have a special guest on her show, Carpenter sometimes pays tribute to two other iconic blondes who have inspired her: At several stops on Short n’ Sweet tour, she has covered either Madonna’s “Material Girl” or Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”.

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