Review: A Nonsense Christmas
Singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter has spent the last few years climbing up the pop star ladder, now making it to the top as 2024 is ending.
In 2014, Carpenter had a leading role in Disney’s “Girl Meets World,” playing Maya Hart, and the next year released her debut album “Eyes Wide Open.” Since then, Carpenter has accumulated over 11 billion streams for her various albums and features. In 2022-2023, while on the tour for her 5th album, “Emails I Can’t Send”, her audiences began to see her establish a brand for herself through the outros for her hit song “Nonsense.” She came up with unique outros each night of her performance, usually inspired by the location she was performing in, along with various jokes and innuendos.
On Nov. 11, Carpenter released a teaser trailer on Instragram for her Netflix Special “A Nonsense Christmas.” With a name originating from the lead track on her 2023 Christmas EP “Fruitcake”the special is Carpenter’s first special produced on her own.
The special is full of skits accompanied by original songs, back-stage scenes, and guest stars to sing holiday songs and perform in skits with Carpenter. She sings “This Christmas (Hang All The Mistletoe)” with pop-star Tyla, “Santa Baby” with country singer Shaniah Twain, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” with pop-star Kali Uchis, and “Santa Baby” with fellow rising sensation Chappell Roan. Carpenter also sings songs from her EP: “buy me presents,” “santa doesn’t know you like i do,” “cindy lou who,” and ends the special singing “a nonsense christmas,” a holiday remix of her hit song.
Carpenter starts the show by singing “buy me presents,” then proceeds to thank viewers for watching and wishing all happy holidays. She then walks around the backstage set singing “The most nonsense time of the year”, a song to the tune of “the most magical time of the year.” She sings about the contents of the special, joking and making references in between verses, along with sprinkling in her classic innuendos and dirty humor.
The inclusion of her humor and style in terms of presentation made the show more personal and comedic, along with the characters Carpenter plays in the various skits. For example, in the second skit, she acts as a character giving gifts to her family members, and knowing exactly what to give each member except for her sister’s husband, and singing her distress with the song “What Do I Get My Brother-in-Law.”
Throughout the show, Carpenter displays the same characteristics that make up who she is as a person and who she is as a celebrity as well, with the jokes and unseriousness around her making any performance or dialogue by her opening and welcome. Overall, this show is a funny and light-hearted watch during the holiday season.
