BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Lehigh Valley native Sabrina Carpenter didn't sweep the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, but made a strong showing as an artist on her way.
And in doing so, she became the first Lehigh Valley native to ever win a Grammy Award for performance.
Carpenter, 25, who grew up in Lower Milford Township, made headlines in November, when she was nominated for six Grammys, including all “Big Four” categories: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Carpenter ended up winning two Grammy Awards: Best Pop Solo Performance for her chart-topping hit "Espresso," and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Short n' Sweet," and also performed on the awards broadcast.Grammy Awards
She is among only 14 artists ever to receive those nominations in one year. And they were her first Grammy nominations ever.
She ended up winning two: Best Pop Solo Performance for her chart-topping hit "Espresso," and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Short n' Sweet," and also performed on the awards broadcast.
But Carpenter didn't win any of the big four — steamrolled in two categories, Record of the Year and Song of the Year by Kendrick Lamar, who dominated the ceremony with five wins.
Carpenter lost Album of the Year to Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter." Beyoncé was the most-nominated artist of the night with 11, but even she only won three.
The remix version of "Espresso" also won Best Remixed Recording, but that award goes to the producer, Mark Ronson, not the artist.
First performance win for a Valley native
According to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, organizers of the Grammy Awards, until Carpenter, no person born in or residing in Lehigh or Northampton counties had ever won a Grammy for performance.
Several performers who were natives of the area have come close, with nominations.
Jazz piano great Keith Jarrett, who was born in Allentown and lived here until moving to New York when he started college, in 2011 was nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his song “Body and Soul” from the album “Jasmine.”
He also was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group for his album “Standards, Vol. 2” in 1986 and for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group for “The Out-Of-Towners” with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette Trio in 2005.
Jarrett has had recognition from the Grammy Awards: His 1975 disc, “The Koln Concert,” which sold more than 3.5 million copies, making it the best-selling solo album in jazz history, in 2010, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Jazz singer Denise Donatelli, who also was born in Allentown, graduated from Parkland High School and lived all of her early life in the Allentown area, has been nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album three times.
She got the nod for “Find a Heart” in 2015, for “Soul Shadows” in 2012 and for “When Lights are Low” in 2011. But she has never won.
Polka star Alex Meixner, who was born in the Lehigh Valley and lived here much of his life, was nominated for Best Polka Album for his disc “Polka Freak Out” with Bubba Hernandez in 2008, but also did not win.
Strong start for the night
Carpenter's night started strong enough, as during the premiere ceremony, she won her first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance for "Espresso."
“I really wasn’t expecting this. This is, woo, my first Grammy so I’m going to cry.”Sabrina Carpenter in Grammy acceptance speech
“I really wasn’t expecting this,” she said in her acceptance speech. “This is, woo, my first Grammy so I’m going to cry.”
Then she won Best Pop Vocal Album, for "Short n' Sweet," beating out not only Chappell Roan, who also was nominated for all Big Four awards, as well as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish.
Swift, the Berks County native who was nominated for six Grammys, went home empty-handed Sunday.
After those wins, Carpenter seemed on a roll, taking the Grammys stage to perform a mashup of "Espresso" and her hit "Please Please Please" — also her first performance at the Grammys.
It was a universally praised performance, as Carpenter sang the songs in a sophisticated, jazzy arrangement, and tore off her black sequined suit look to reveal a baby blue bejeweled body suit.
But that was the end of Carpenter's Grammy run.
Her only appearance after that on the CBS-TV broadcast was when she was shown — three times, no less — smiling and clapping as Roan won Best New Artist over her, and gave her acceptance speech.
Perplexing nomination, big success
Carpenter's nomination for Best New Artist was perplexing, anyway.
While Roan released her debut album in 2023, Carpenter had a run as a Disney artist after gaining recognition on Disney Channel's "Girl Meets World" and performing its theme song.
Carpenter released her debut, "Eyes Wide Open" in 2015 on Disney's Hollywood Records and followed that with three more discs through 2018 that hit the lower ends of the Albums chart.
Those discs contained five songs that went sold gold or platinum, but charted in the lower end of the Top 100.
Carpenter then switched to Island Records for 2022's "Emails I Can't Send," which became her breakout — selling the gold single "Because I Liked a Boy" and the platinum hits "Nonsense" and "Feather," the latter which hit No. 1 on the Pop chart.
But Carpenter's Grammy wins showed the artist is clearly on the rise.
Her single "Espresso," released in April, now has sold five times platinum. She followed that with "Please Please Please," which sold double platinum and hit No. 1.
"Taste," released in August, went to No. 1 on the Pop chart and sold double-platinum.
And her most recent single, "Bad Chem," released in October, became her fourth straight platinum single. It's No. 6 this week, after 17 weeks on the charts.
Earlier this year, she had three songs in the Top 5, making Carpenter the first woman and the only act other than The Beatles to have three Top 5 hits in the same week.
