The Importance of an Artists Visual Identity— A Case Study on the "sudden success" of Sabrina Carpenter
- kmilatos165
- Dec 7, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 7, 2025
Brief Career History:
Sabrina Carpenter first came on the scene via Disney Channel in 2014. Through her contract with Disney, she starred in two of their successful shows whilst simultaneously releasing music. She released her debut album in 2015 and her sophomore album the following year, releasing another two albums whilst still linked with Disney. Carpenter released a total of four albums in her five years with the Disney channel. During this time her style wasn’t niche or defined and her visual identity was limited to the constraints of being linked with a children's television and movie company. In many instances, Carpenter looked like the average teenager.
The Turning Point:
Carpenter released a standalone single in 2021 with her new record label Island Records, and her first full album with the new label in 2022 titled ‘Emails I can’t send fwd’. The release of this album, without the constraints of Disney was the start of the turning point of her musical notoriety and success. It is also important to note that Carpenter was now in her early 20’s. During this time Carpenter was invited to be one of Taylor Swifts support acts on her monumentally successful Era’s tour. Carpenter experienced a simultaneous boost in exposure due to her connection to the Era’s tour, in this time her visual identity was being crafted, creeping closer to what she became known for in 2024 and is now known for in 2025.
In April of 2024, Sabrina released the music video for her extremely successful single ‘Espresso', from her Short n' Sweet album. The success of ‘Espresso’ connected to its catchy nature, (a true ear worm) but is also linked to her establishing a clear visual identity. This music video is her first time delving into the retro aesthetics from the 1950’s and 1960’s that we now associate with her. The success of the song and music video are intrinsically linked to the visuals presented. As part of this retro aesthetic, Sabrina changed her hairstyle. She is now associated with having big, voluminous, long blonde hair with bouncy curls and a fringe, very reminiscent of 1960’s actress Brigette Bardot. Ties in with the 50’s & 60’s aesthetics she’s playing into have become synonymous with Sabrina amongst her younger adult leaning audience.
As Sabrina has an acting and theatre background the visuals for her Short n Sweet tour tied into the retro picture she was painting with her costuming and stage props similar to shows like ‘Bewitched’, ‘I love Lucy’, and musicals like ’Grease' and ‘Bye Bye Birdie’. Whilst still on tour, Sabrina released another album titled 'Man’s Best Friend' off the success of her Short n' Sweet album and continued with a lot of the same aesthetics as she toured songs from her new album during the second leg of her existing tour. Some small changes clear in the music videos she released and some of her tour outfits is that Carpenter also relied on making reference to the 1970’s during this album promotion, sharing nods to the cult classic ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ released in 1975. As with many modern artists, via social media Carpenter encouraged her patrons to dress up when attending her concerts and those who did and posted it were highlighted by the artist on her social media accounts. This not only assisted in promoting her albums and shows at the time but cleverly created a feeling of being chosen or being special amongst those highlighted by the artist.
Closing thoughts:
As with a myriad of other factors that created the ‘perfect storm’ for Sabrina’s success, visual branding and identity play a significant role. More than ever, artists need to be almost as visually appealing as they are sonically to garner attention, this is particularly evident in their need to have accounts across the social media platforms to maintain relevancy amongst particularly the teen and young adult demographics.
References:
Aswad, Jem. “Sabrina Carpenter Signs with Island Records.” Variety, 26 Jan. 2021, variety.com/2021/music/news/sabrina-carpenter-signs-island-records-1234891659/.
Comstock, Frannie. “Sabrina Carpenter | Biography, Songs, Albums, & TV Shows.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Oct. 2025, www.britannica.com/biography/Sabrina-Carpenter.
Jackson, Hannah. “Sabrina Carpenter Loves a Musical Theater Reference.” Vogue, 21 Oct. 2024, www.vogue.com/article/styling-the-tour-sabrina-carpenter.
Berry, Jennifer. “How Dressing up for Concerts Became Full-on Cosplay.” The Kit, 11 Nov. 2025, thekit.ca/fashion/trend/sabrina-carpenter-concert-outfits/. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
Meenan, Devin. “Sabrina Carpenter’s Tears Music Video Takes Cues from a Cult Horror Classic.” SlashFilm, 30 Aug. 2025, www.slashfilm.com/1954157/sabrina-carpenter-colman-domingo-tears-music-video-rocky-horror-picture-show/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.
O’Brien, Richard, et al. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” IMDb, 31 Aug. 1975, www.imdb.com/title/tt0073629/.
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