Sabrina Carpenter brings out Madonna
- Sabrina Carpenter brought out Madonna during her Coachella weekend-two headlining set on April 17, turning “Juno” into a surprise duet sequence. - The pair performed “Vogue,” debuted an unreleased song tied to Madonna’s upcoming “Confessions II,” then closed the cameo with “Like a Prayer.” - Madonna framed it as a 20-year Coachella return tied to her 2006 “Confessions” era. (abcnews.com)
Sabrina Carpenter turned her Coachella weekend-two headlining set into a crossover moment on April 17 when Madonna rose from the stage during “Juno.” (billboard.com) (abcnews.com) Madonna entered at the part of “Juno” where Carpenter usually stages a celebrity bit on tour, and the song flipped into “Vogue.” The two then performed what multiple outlets described as a new or unreleased duet. (variety.com) (rollingstone.com) They closed the guest spot with “Like a Prayer,” with dancers in religious-inspired costumes moving behind them on the Coachella stage. ABC News and Billboard both placed the cameo near the end of Carpenter’s Friday-night headlining performance. (abcnews.com) (billboard.com) Madonna used the set break to connect the appearance to her own Coachella history. She told the crowd it was “20 years ago” that she first played the festival and debuted material from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” in America. (billboard.com) (rollingstone.com) Variety reported that Madonna said she was back in “the same boots” and “the same corset,” calling the return a “full circle moment.” The reference pointed directly to her 2006 Coachella appearance, which Variety said took place in the Sahara Tent. (variety.com) The timing also lined up with Madonna’s next album rollout. ABC News, Billboard and Rolling Stone all reported that “Confessions II,” a sequel to her 2005 album, is due July 3. (abcnews.com) (billboard.com) (rollingstone.com) For Carpenter, the cameo changed the shape of her second Coachella headline run. Rolling Stone’s review of weekend one said her April 10 set featured actors including Will Ferrell, Sam Elliott, Susan Sarandon and the voice of Samuel L. Jackson, while Billboard said weekend two became the more music-heavy guest moment. (rollingstone.com) (billboard.com) The pairing also bridged two different pop cycles at once: Carpenter’s current headliner phase and Madonna’s return to the “Confessions” world she first introduced at Coachella two decades earlier. By the time “Like a Prayer” hit, the set had become one of weekend two’s defining images. (billboard.com) (rollingstone.com)
