Sabrina Carpenter is feeding her fans. The “Please, Please, Please” singer posted a teaser Instagram video on June 2, which had fans convinced something big was coming. Now, we know what it was. Carpenter’s new single “Manchild” will drop on June 5, and fans are already speculating online about who “Manchild” is about.
The announcement of Carpenter’s upcoming single comes one day after Carpenter posted a teaser video on Instagram. The clip showed Carpenter wearing jean microshorts and a white crop top, standing on the side of a road with a suitcase and her thumb up in the air. Carpenter looks to two passing cars to hitchhike a ride, but they both pass her by without stopping.
On June 3, Carpenter posted a shot from that same video on Instagram, writing, “This one’s about you!! ‘Manchild’ is out this Thursday 6/5 8pm EST♥️ special 7” vinyl available now.” Carpenter tagged director and video artist Jennifer Juniper Stratford in the post, who also directed Short N’ Sweet album visuals as well as Carpenter’s SKIMS campaign video.
While fans wait for the song and accompanying music video to drop, there’s one big question they’re looking to answer: Who is “Manchild” about? One obvious answer fans have been theorizing is Barry Keoghan, who Carpenter dated throughout 2024. Keoghan and Carpenter were an item for about a year before they reportedly broke up in December to focus on their careers. On the “Manchild” Instagram post, one user commented, “Oh barry look what you made her do.” Another said, “Barry diss track hell yes.”
It’s also widely speculated that Carpenter’s hit “Please, Please, Please” is about Keoghan, largely because he starred with her in the song’s music video. One user wrote in the “Manchild” comments, “Well, you told him that if he didn’t want to end up crying over a song about him, then he better not embarrass you.” (Pointing to some “Please, Please, Please” lyrics, of course.)
According to Pop Base, the vinyl version of the song also includes a B-side with a phrase reading, “Inside Of Your Head When You’ve Just Won An Argument With A Man.” This could potentially point to “Manchild” being about Keoghan, but at the same time, it could be a larger theme in the song about dealing with men in general. For what it’s worth, Carpenter has put up a series of billboards in Los Angeles alluding to the new song, all centered around men, too — they read “Hey men!” “Amen!” and “Manchild.”
Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until June 5 at 8 p.m. EST to find out the lyrics to “Manchild,” and suss out whether the track could be about Keoghan.