As the NFL season comes to a close, sports fans are eagerly anticipating who will win the Super Bowl. Music fans, however, are gearing up to see their favorites battle it out at the Grammy Awards.
2026 marks the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. The event, which is set for February 1st at 8 pm Eastern, will be hosted by Trevor Noah for his sixth consecutive year. It will air live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where the crowd will be packed with the biggest stars in the music industry.
Of course, the event is also a prime opportunity for performers, and the Recording Academy has just announced the first performer: Sabrina Carpenter.
This will mark the second year in a row that the pop superstar has performed at the Grammys. Last year, she performed a medley of “Espresso,” which won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance, and “Please Please Please.” It will be an enormous night for Carpenter, as she is also nominated for six Grammy awards: Best Music Video, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.
Four of her six nominations are for “Manchild,” a playful track that she wrote on a “random Tuesday” with Amy Allen and Jack Antonoff, Carpenter told NBC.
“It sounds like the song embodiment of a loving eye roll, and it feels like a never-ending road trip in the summer,” she said. “Hence why I wanted to give it to you now—so you can stick your head out the car window and scream it all summer long! Thank you always and forever for listening and thank you men for testing me!!”
Check out the happy-go-lucky video that captures summer vibes:
Aside from the lyrical content, the vibes are baked into the composition. The song is in G major and uses the chord progression G-Am-C. The pattern never changes, and without a dominant chord to give a strong resolution, it reinforces that endless summer feeling. Of course, the chorus melody is an earworm that makes you feel like you’re putting your arm out the window while driving down the highway.
In addition to the performance, producer Jack Antonoff used his incredible production skills to bring the special sauce to the recording. Part of the magic came from creating a unique rhythmic feel.
He recorded straight eighth notes on a Linn Drum for the main beat and layered a galloping, swinging pattern on top of that.
“The feel of a song isn’t only what people play, but how you mix them together. This was such a delicate balance of that,” he said on Mixing With the Masters. “Straight and swung are a spectrum. There’s everything in between. The space between is where the magic happens.”
Get deeper into the production with the full video:
Carpenter hasn’t announced what she’ll be performing yet, but it’s highly likely we’ll see her belt out “Manchild.” Get ready for the big show by practicing with the sheet music.
