The music video Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild might seem like a randomly chaotic visual for a cheeky breakup anthem. But after a few watches you’ll see it as a brutal takedown of emotionally immature men. It’s a playful, self-aware commentary on modern dating and the exhausting cycle of chasing stability where there is none.
🚙 The Wild West of Dating
Directed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, the Manchild video unfolds as a chaotic, surreal road trip through the American West.Sabrina is seen hitchhiking with a series of strange male companions. One dude abandons her during a burglary gone wrong while another one washes his face with gasoline.
Here, the Wild West is a metaphor for today’s dating scene. Every outlandish vehicle is a stand-in for a failed relationship. Whether she’s being dragged alongside a motorcycle on a shopping cart or clinging to the back of a dumpster truck, each man offers a ride but no real direction.
The absurdity of Sabrina putting out a man’s flaming hair or posing for a boyfriend who only paints her hand isn’t random. These scenes highlight the work women often put in to maintain one-sided relationships. Trying to soothe, fix, or fit into someone else’s limited framework. The result? Chaos, frustration and being no closer to getting to your destination.
🐢 What’s With All the Animals?
One of the most striking aspects of the video is its varied cast of animals. There’s pigs chilling in in a bubble bath, a chicken in a police hat, a squirrel smoking a cigarette, and a bird riding a turtle
What does it all mean? The animals amplify the absurd nature of the video as it symbolizes the song’s theme:
- The squirrel smoking a cigarette: dysfunction disguised as quirkiness.
- The chicken wearing a police hat: an authority figure with no real power.
- Pigs soaking in bubble baths: indulgence without any substance.
Some theorize that the bird riding the turtle represents Sabrina. She could fly away at any time but she stays with the much slower turtle. It invokes that feeling of staying in relationships you know aren’t going anywhere, even when you have the power to leave.
🔄 Is She Trapped? Or Just Self-Aware?
The video ends the same way it began: Sabrina exiting one car (relationship) only to immediately get into another waiting vehicle. Which begs the question: why keep climbing into these doomed rides?
The lyrics and video implies a degree of self-awareness. Sabrina recognizes the pattern but for reasons she can’t explain, continues to attract and date these manchilds. Lines like “I swear they choose me, I’m not choosing them” and the resigned sigh of “fuck my life” capture that tension. Knowing the cycle is starting again, even as she laments her inability or unwillingness to break free from it.
It’s the kind of self-deprecating humor many can relate to; recognizing toxic patterns but still getting pulled back in. The video doesn’t suggest she’ll be trapped in this cycle forever. But it does reflect how easy it is to fall into a familiar pattern, especially when self-love or stability feels elusive.
☀️Song of the Summer
Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild is a fun, catchy piece of pop satire, using animals and absurdity to deliver a biting critique of modern relationships. The video’s wild visuals are a clever extension of the song’s message, turning chaos into comedy.
Manchild doesn’t take itself too seriously, even when it’s talking about something frustrating. It’s not trying to find the perfect answer to fixing bad relationships, but it’s about recognizing how crazy the ride is. Sabrina Carpenter reminds us that sometimes, the smartest move is to know when to laugh and when to stop getting in the car.
