Pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter is set to release another new single, "Manchild," on Thursday, following the massive success of her track "Please Please Please." The 26-year-old singer took to Instagram to give fans a glimpse of her latest track, which quickly ignited speculation about its lyrical inspiration.

Carpenter revealed that "Manchild" was written "on a random Tuesday" with collaborators Amy Allen and Jack Antonoff, right after wrapping her album "Short n’ Sweet." She described the creation process as "incredibly fun" and shared that the song felt like a "heartfelt tribute to the messy and unpredictable journey of growing up." Carpenter calls "Manchild" her "loving eye roll" to young adulthood, a track that she feels can "score the mental montage to the very confusing and fun young adult years of life." She added, "It sounds like the song embodiment of a loving eye roll, like a never-ending road trip in the summer," and expressed her desire for fans to "roll down their car windows and sing it at the top of their lungs all summer."

The music video for "Manchild," directed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, was released on Friday morning, June 6. In the visual, Carpenter travels all over the American West, hitching rides with a diverse group of men whose only similarities are their odd modes of transportation—such as a jet ski on a highway, a shopping cart attached to a motorcycle, and a motorized recliner chair—and their inability to get the singer where she needs to go. Carpenter commented on Instagram about the video, stating, "it’s exactly what i pictured in my head," and humorously added, "no animals were harmed in the making but some men were."

The lyrics of "Manchild" have fueled significant fan speculation. One set of lyrics mentions, “Manchild, why you always come a-runnin' to me? / F--- my life, won't you let an innocent woman be? / Never heard of self-care / Half your brain just ain't there.” Another part of the song goes, “Stupid, or is it slow/ Maybe it’s useless/ But there’s a cuter word for it, I know/ Manchild/ Why you always come a-running to me?/ F–k my life/ Won’t you let an innocent woman be?” While Carpenter has not explicitly named anyone, many fans quickly drew connections to her most recent ex, 32-year-old Irish actor Barry Keoghan, suggesting the song is a "savage dig." The former couple was first seen dining together in Los Angeles in December 2023, but reports indicated they had taken a break by the end of the following year.

"Manchild" marks Carpenter’s first new music since the release of the "Short n’ Sweet" deluxe album, which featured bonus tracks “15 Minutes,” “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” “Busy Woman,” and “Bad Reviews.” The original "Short n’ Sweet" LP, which arrived in August, was a major success for Carpenter, spending four weeks atop the Billboard 200 and marking her first-ever No. 1 album on the chart. Currently, Carpenter is on a short break from her "Short n’ Sweet Tour," which kicked off last fall with a North American leg. She has upcoming performances scheduled, including two shows at London’s Hyde Park in July, to be followed by another round of shows in the United States and Canada.