Who Is Sabrina Carpenter's 'Manchild' About? How the Lyrics Don't Match Up to Ex-Boyfriend Barry Keoghan

Sabrina Carpenter just performed her Grammy-nominated song “Manchild” at the Grammys and now she’s performing it again during The Muppet Show special.

Fans might be curious to know more about the inspiration for the song, including if it’s about one of her exes.

While fans initially thought the song was going to be about her former boyfriend Barry Keoghan, fans noted that Sabrina‘s lyrics didn’t match up with their relationship.

Keep reading to find out more…

Sabrina sings in the chorus, “Manchild, why you always come a-runnin’ to me? / F–k my life, won’t you let an insane woman be? / Never heard of self-care / Half your brain just ain’t there / Manchild, why you always come a-runnin’, takin’ all my lovin’ from me?”

There’s a lyric in the second verse that seems to shut down theories about Barry being the subject of the song.

Sabrina sings in verse two, “Why so sexy if so dumb? / And how survive the Earth so long /If I’m not there, it won’t get dumb / I choose to blame your mom.”

For those who don’t know, Barry‘s mom tragically died from heroin addiction when he was only 12 years old. He recently was very candid about his own battles with addiction and what it was like losing his mom at a young age.

It seems very unlikely that Sabrina would use Barry‘s tragedy in a song this way, seemingly shutting down theories that he’s the “Manchild” subject.

Sabrina has also revealed that she wrote the song “on a random tuesday with amy and jack not too long after finishing short n’ sweet and it ended up being the best random tuesday of my life.” She was still dating Barry at this time, so this isn’t a breakup song about their relationship!

So, who is it about? Most fans are guessing it’s about one of her other exes, possibly Shawn Mendes or Joshua Bassett.

Read the lyrics for the song below!