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Sabrina Carpenter has restricted her debut to Austin City with her special guest Shania Twain.
On Saturday, October 4th, Carpenter, one of the festival’s headliners, invited a duet to “not really impress” 60-year-old Twain.
Before introducing the surprise guest, the 26-year-old Carpenter told the crowd that he had a gift for her, saying, “I show love in a strange way. One way of showing my love is to give gifts. It’s one of my languages and I thought it would be fun to give you all a little gift tonight.”
“You guys have come out and show up for all of us, so give us a little present,” she continued.
Mathew Tsang/Getty;Kevin Mazur/Getty
The singer then quickly broke out into the 1998 Twain hit. This also sang Carpenter on his previous short N’Sweet tour.
During the performance, Twain wore an utterly black Western-style outfit with a black cowboy hat, a western style shirt, black denim shorts and black cowboy boots. Meanwhile, the Carpenter’s appearance embraced a bright country-inspired look.
“Austin. Shania Twain! Make some f—noise,” Carpenter said after she and Twain hugged her after the performance was over.
After the performance, both celebrated the duet on Instagram. In addition to photos of them hugging each other on stage, Twain uploaded several photos of the duo performing on stage. “It’s like Loretta and Dory. It’s Shania and Sabrina 💖,” Twain wrote in connection with Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn and their famous close friendship.
Carpenter responded sweetly in his comment, writing, “😭😭😭😭shania!!!”
Carpenter posted an Instagram Carousel highlighting the entire weekend. Several sweet snapshots of the pair are sung, with some behind-the-scenes photos of Polaroids.
“ACL Weekend 1💛💛💛. @Aclfestival. My Dream Crowd. My Dream Shania. My Dream DJO. What a perfect night. During the Carpenter set, she also “arrested” Joe Keely for “too hot.”
Sabrina Carpenter/Instagram
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Carpenter and Twain’s recent onstage collaboration takes place less than a year after Twain appeared in Carpenter’s “Nonsense Christmas Netflix Special.” In the star-studded special, Twain played the role of Mrs. Klaus.
Before their performance, Twain stated that having a “Junho” singer cover “doesn’t impress me a lot” was a “huge compliment.” Twain said to E! News from September 2024, “The carpenter is such a talented person! She’s clever, so that’s a compliment.”
A few months later, in February 2025, Twain only told people he was grateful for inspiration for the next generation of music stars, including Carpenter. “It’s very moving,” Twain says.
The Austin City Limit Festival continues this weekend with Carpenter returning to the stage on Saturday, October 11th.
