Sabrina Carpenter released her music video to “Feather” on the eve of All Saints Day — a Catholic holiday commemorating all known or unknown saints who rest now in Heaven. The 24-year-old pop star doesn’t often sync her music releases with the liturgical calendar. Her latest music video, though, was partially filmed inside of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, which Catholics think was a rather tactless way to celebrate the holiday.
“The parish did not follow Diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script,” bishop of Brooklyn, Robert J. Brennan’s office said in a statement. “The parish reports that the production company failed to accurately represent the video content. Bishop Brennan is taking this matter seriously and will be looking into it further.” Profaning the sacred, including the Catholic Church, is old hat for artists, though that doesn’t make it any less objectionable. But one gets the sense that Carpenter is really just in it for the shock value.
Known best for her raunchy outros — Carpenter rhymes city names with sexual innuendos to end every live show — her latest hit “Feather” is trending on YouTube. Although the song has no Christian undertones, “Feather” does glorify death in its own way. To be without men is freeing, the song supposes. Its video goes a step further as Carpenter kills men who show her attention and sticks them in pastel-colored coffins. “Sabrina Carpenter Kills Boys in the Horror-Inspired Music Video for ‘Feather’,” a People magazine headline better explains. Slightly macabre. Next to a “RIP B****” urn set atop the church’s altar, Carpenter danced in an all-black, pants-less ensemble to the lyrics:
I feel so much lighter like a feather with you off my mind, ahh
Floatin’ through the memories like whatever
You’re a waste of time, ahh
Your signals are mixed, you act like a b****
You fit every stereotype, send a pic
I feel so much lighter like a feather with you out my life
With you out my life
Feminine instinct among singers to demonize men, or in Carpenter’s case just kill them off completely, is not new, but it’s certainly seeing an aggressive resurgence in the latest class of man-haters led by Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cardi B. Liberation comes in many forms, and the most popular form among young female singers is to eradicate men who don’t fulfill a woman’s selfish yet fleeting sexual desires. See: Carpenter’s show outros.
San Antonio: “I just wanna ride him like a rodeo / But first he gotta grow it like Pinocchio / Sorry I’m so vulgar, San Antonio.”
Philadelphia: “This crowd is giving me all the endorphins / I wish someone could rearrange my organs / Philly is the city I was born in.”
Chi-town: “Water ain’t the only thing I swallow / I really wish I could play here tomorrow / My favorite city is Chicago.”
We are to believe this is what passes for lyrical genius today. Carpenter “Kills Boys!” (thanks, People) in her latest video because they objectify her, snap photos of her backside in an elevator, and ogle her on the street. The singer’s stunted moral framework only has room to imagine sexual revenge or one-way sexual gratification. Viewing the world this way further promotes the degrading sexual landscape from which her young listeners already suffer.