Sabrina Carpenter is ready to start anotherpop girl summer, and this time, she might be coming for blood — specifically, Barry Keoghan’s. On June 2, the pop star kicked off the teasing of her next single, “Manchild,” with cryptic billboards and a video of her hitchhiking in cutoff shorts and heels, cheekily whispering, “Oh boy.” The track officially drops June 5, but speculation is already running wild over who the song is about. And based on the clues, fans are convinced it’s none other than her ex-boyfriend, Saltburn star Barry Keoghan.
The billboard lyrics teased so far include:
I swear they choose me, I’m not choosing them.”
“Amen.”
“Hey men!”
Given the title alone — Manchild— the song is shaping up to be an anthem of romantic frustration, and Sabrina’s fans are here for it.
Her Instagram caption for the single’s cover art? “This one’s about you!!” Subtle? Not exactly.
Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan broke up in December 2024 after a highly publicized relationship that included him starring in the “Please Please Please” music video — a track many fans already believed was about their romance. That song, released on June 6, 2024, now eerily aligns with the release timeline of “Manchild,” almost exactly one year apart.
The connection doesn’t stop there. In “Please Please Please,” Sabrina pleads:
“I heard that you’re an actor, so act like a stand-up guy… Don’t let him out tonight.”
“If you don’t wanna cry to my music / Don’t make me hate you prolifically.”
That last line feels especially prophetic now. With Manchild, Sabrina Carpenter seems ready to make good on that warning.
Fans believe this new song may be a direct response to her earlier plea, possibly born from the fallout of their breakup. The split was due to busy schedules and career focus, but social media isn’t buying the sanitised PR version.
The marketing and messaging are unmistakably aimed at exorcising the lingering heartbreak of a relationship gone wrong. And Barry Keoghan, whether he intended to or not, may just have become Sabrina Carpenter’s next lyrical target with Manchild.
With Espresso and Please Please Please already dominating 2024’s charts and pop culture, Manchild could very well be the 2025 song of the summer. And if it is about Keoghan, he might want to avoid TikTok for a while.
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