From Disney star to it girl: A look inside Sabrina Carpenter’s transformation over the years

From living her Disney star childhood to now becoming an international pop star, Sabrina Carpenter has truly gone through leaps and bounds to become the icon she is now. Although her Disney career was quite short lived, this didn’t stop her from starring in a number of teenage movies and even go on to produce her own music. Throughout the years, Sabrina has had quite the transformation and I’m not just talking about the wild ride her hair endured.

We first saw Sabrina Carpenter appear on our screens 10 years ago and ever since then, we’ve collectively come to love her. She is THE it girl right now and rightfully so. With that being said, here’s a look at Sabrina Carpenter and her transformation through the years.

Sofia the First (2012)

Although not on our screens just yet, Sabrina had a leading role in this animated series. She voiced the character called Princess Vivian and was featured throughout the series. In this interview of Sabrina talking about the show, she has RED hair? She also looks so young and is channelling Disney Channel child to her core. She’s adorable through and through.

Girl Meets World episode one (2014)

The transformation of Sabrina Carpenter really began when she showed up on our screens in the Disney channel TV series, Girl Meets World 10 whole years ago. Back in 2014, we met Maya Hart (AKA the Sabrina Carpenter), a girl who’s cool, rough around the edges and who’s best friends with the show’s main protagonist, Riley Matthews. At just 15 years old, Sabrina’s acting career skyrocketed. She also debuted the blonde wavy locks we’ve grown to know and love for the first time on TV.

Eyes Wide Open album (2015)

Sabrina’s first debut album called Eyes Wide Open was released back in 2015 and a star was born. Sabrina’s pop career had only just begun, she was still quite an underground artist but boy, hasn’t that drastically changed. We also saw her take on an edgy, bad girl look and the heavy eye makeup definitely took us by surprise after we had been viewing her as Maya for so long.

EVOLution album (2016)

One year later, Sabrina’s second studio album released and included hit songs like Thumbs and On Purpose. In her Thumbs video, Sabrina goes for a more grunge aesthetic – completely opposite to how she debuted herself to us all in her first music video. Sabrina even went on her first headlining concert tour, the Evolution Tour, followed by The De-Tour. She really was working late ’cause she’s a singer.

The Hate U Give film (2018)

Starring in a much more serious role, Sabrina played Hailey Grant in the hard-hitting 2018 film, The Hate U Give. Her acting career quickly grew from Disney Channel to film – an amazing step for her. The film addressed racism and police brutality against people of colour living in America. Sabrina’s character is Starr’s friend, however their friendship is on the rocks as Hailey is ignorant towards Starr’s battles. She really grew into her own after this film and it definitely helped her grow as a star.

Singular: Act One (2018)

Her third album, Singular: Act One. Another pop album that including songs like Almost Love and Sue Me. Again, Sabrina went on another tour called The Singular Tour in March 2019. Here we saw the beginning of the bangs: Opting for a more warmer tone of blonde, Sabrina Carpenter and her transformation into who she is now truly began in 2018.

Tall Girl (2019)

This wasn’t the best film I have to say, but Sabrina had a fairly prominent part in it. In the film, Sabrina plays Harper Kreyman, the older sister of the main character, Jodi Kreyman. Harper is super confident and a beauty queen. Sabrina’s height is like 5ft, so it’s very ironic to be in a film about a tall girl. But she somehow looks completely different here too, donning darker roots and looking miles older.

Sabrina goes back to red hair (2019)

Yup, her hair went BACK to red. She made the switch for her role in the teen drama, Clouds. I guess we had Girl Meets World and now Girl Meets a bottle of red hair dye? This change was CRAZY and really took us back to her Disney Channel days. Whilst it suits her, I’m not sure if it beats the blonde.

The Short History of the Long Road (2020)

In this movie, Sabrina plays the role of Nola, a teenage girl who lives in her dad’s van. Nola leaves her alcoholic father in the search for a mother she never knew. Honestly I’ve never seen it, but Sabrina had BROWN hair? So, she’s transformed from red to blond to brown – her hair has really gone through everything. I have to say she’s also serving here too though.

Tall Girl 2 (2022)

God, if one wasn’t enough, they had to make a number two. The film got mixed reviews…to say the least. But, Sabrina’s iconic bangs are on top form and she only gets prettier. With the longer, wavier look, Sabrina’s hair is just *chef’s kiss*.

Emails I Can’t Send (2022)

I would say this album is really when Sabrina’s pop career started to take off. Released back in July 2022, Sabrina’s fifth album really had some bangers like Nonsense and Feather. Coming back to her hair, we see Sabrina embrace the thicker bangs and find her style. Her confidence seems to have grown leaps and bounds by here too – she’s cool and she absolutely knows it.

Opening for Taylor Swift (2024)

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A post shared by Sabrina Carpenter (@sabrinacarpenter)

From 16th February to 9th March 2024, Sabrina opened up for THE Taylor Swift whilst on the Singapore Eras Tour. Her fanbase practically exploded after this, unsurprisingly. What Swiftie doesnt like Sabrina? And I guess Sabrina also took a few notes from Taylor by hinting at Easter Eggs for her new song Please Please Please recently. We love women who support women!

Espresso music video (2024)

Sabrina has essentially saved summer with this one hit. Rent was DUE when Sabrina dropped this song. She really does have that me espresso. She’s effortlessly golden brown, with more of a shaggy mullet-esque look going on this time. It served.

Sabrina at the Met Gala (2024)

This year’s dress code was The Garden of Time and honestly, Sabrina slayed in this black and blue princess number. I would say she looked slightly different here by returning to her darker eyebrows, paler complexion and side fringe but she looked so iconic. The cool hair really complimented her dress – it’s almost regal. A moment for the history books, I dare say.

Please, Please, Please music video (2024)

Sabrina changed lives with this track. In this video, Sabrina embraces a more mob wife aesthetic, which is a serious transformation from her innocent soft girl era. Why soft launch your boyfriend when you can HARD launch him in a music video about how he shouldn’t embarrass her? SHE ATE THAT UP.

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Featured image via YouTube and Instagram @sabrinacarpenter