Song Overview
“Tears” is the second single from Sabrina Carpenter’s seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, released August 29, 2025, through Island Records. The video arrives the same day, directed by Bardia Zeinali and starring Colman Domingo.
The roll-out teased fans for weeks: a Lollapalooza preview on August 3, a countdown teaser the week before release, then the full drop with the album. It’s crisp, hooky disco-pop with cheek to spare.
Review & Highlights
Creation History
After “Manchild” set the tone, Carpenter revealed titles day by day and saved “Tears” for last. She teased the video on August 22-23 and premiered the full clip alongside the album on August 29. She’d already slipped a live taste at Lollapalooza on August 3.
What it sounds like: glossy, strutting disco-pop with a wink. The verses are talky and tight; the hook lands like a slogan. If “Manchild” was the headline, “Tears” is the office memo rewritten as a flirt. The word lyrics shows up as punchline and thesis at once - responsibility framed as the hottest kink.
What it’s about: basic decency as foreplay. Dishes done, texts returned, respect given - the bar isn’t high, and that’s the joke. The video flips to camp horror and glam burlesque, with Domingo channeling Rocky Horror energy.
Verse 1. She spells out the turn-ons: initiative, chores, clear speech. The production keeps space for the deadpan delivery, hi-hats ticking like a to-do list.
Chorus. The hook repeats until it feels like doctrine: be a responsible guy, and suddenly everything’s electric.
Exchange/Bridge
Exchange/Bridge. The gag hardens into a thesis - competence is hot because it’s rare. Synths briefly thin for a “dance break,” then flood back in.
Final Build
Final Build. She rides the mantra into a winked-out finale, saving the real plot twist for the video.
Song Meaning and Annotations
The core message is simple: do the basics and we’re good. It’s half bit, half boundary-setting.
“As per Sabrina’s usual tongue-in-cheek humour, Carpenter converts the idea of ‘getting wet’... to getting wet from tears lamenting over another relationship failing.”The gag keeps the sting gentle.
Responsibility becomes the new sexy.
“‘Being a responsible guy’... she can hardly imagine a responsible guy. She uses this disbelief as a hypnotising refrain.”Satire thrives on exaggeration, and she leans into it.
The chorus flips innuendo into house-rule.
“Continuing the idea of crying with sexual innuendos... ‘tears running down my thigh’ is another way of saying she’s ‘wet’.”Crass? Maybe. Effective? Definitely.
Domesticity as desire is the twist.
“Baby, just do the dishes... as long as he does what she wants, she is all his... a flip narrative of womenhood in the 1970s.”The bit lands because the stakes are low and true.
Modern life admin shows up as foreplay.
“Remembering how to use your phone gets me... hot.”Communication competency as intimacy - fair trade.
There’s hunger under the humor.
“Considering I have feelings... ‘Why are my clothes still on?’... even thinking of it makes her wet.”She’s kidding, and not.
“Shikitah” functions like a flourish.
“The term, shikitah, originates... like ‘abracadabra’... him taking responsibility is so rare, it may as well be called magic.”Whether that etymology is strict or playful, the effect is the point.
Self-mockery sneaks in, too.
“‘So, so, so, responsible guy’... displayed in a sarcastic tone... could be a jab at one of her ex’s.”The refrain reads like an eye-roll sung on beat.
Pop-culture echoes keep it bright.
“‘Dance break’... a fourth wall moment... placement here... isn’t bizarre, as Sabrina played the protagonist in Mean Girls: The Musical.”She knows her theater camp; she weaponizes it.
The video swerves into cinema cosplay. Domingo in drag, a haunted house, pole-dance in a cornfield - Rocky Horror and pulp horror meet studio gloss.
“Hades? No. But camp, drag, and danger... the canary’s swapped for a cornfield pole.”Call it lipstick-television: scary, silly, sold.
Production, instrumentation, style
Co-produced by Sabrina Carpenter and John Ryan, written with Amy Allen, the track leans disco-pop and nu-disco: four-on-the-floor pulse, rubbery bass, stacked BVs, and shiny synth hooks. Mix by Șerban Ghenea, mastered by Nathan Dantzler.
About metaphors and symbols
Chores-as-desire is the banner metaphor; “responsible guy” turns into a talisman she rubs for luck. The joke lands because the wish is small: be decent, not dazzling.
Key Facts
- Artist: Sabrina Carpenter
- Featured: None officially credited
- Writers: Sabrina Carpenter, John Ryan, Amy Allen
- Producers: Sabrina Carpenter, John Ryan
- Release Date: August 29, 2025
- Album: Man’s Best Friend
- Genre: Pop, disco-pop, nu disco
- Length: ~2:40
- Label: Island Records
- Mixing engineer: Șerban Ghenea
- Mastering engineer: Nathan Dantzler
- Video director: Bardia Zeinali
- Video co-star: Colman Domingo
- Studios: sessions tied to Electric Lady (NYC) among others (album era)
- © Copyrights: 2025 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Questions and Answers
- Who wrote and produced “Tears”?
- Sabrina Carpenter, John Ryan, and Amy Allen wrote it; Carpenter and Ryan produced.
- When was “Tears” released?
- August 29, 2025, alongside the album Man’s Best Friend.
- Who directed the video and who’s the surprise star?
- Directed by Bardia Zeinali; Colman Domingo appears in drag, with deliberate nods to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- Where did she first preview the song?
- At the end of her Lollapalooza set on August 3, 2025, weeks before release.
- What does “shikitah” mean here?
- It reads like a playful stinger - a flourish after the joke lands. Some fans frame it like a stagey “abracadabra,” tying the bit to the song’s running “magic” gag. (Artist hasn’t defined it officially.)
Awards and Chart Positions
Early milestones. Within 24 hours, “Tears” reportedly debuted at #1 on Spotify’s Global Daily chart with ~9.295M streams, according to Chart Data and other trackers. Treat as provisional until weekly charts lock.
| Metric | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| #1 Global Spotify - Daily | Aug 30, 2025 | Chart Data post |
Additional Info
The “Tears” video crams in film love letters: Rocky Horror staging, cornfield horror nods, and a cheeky pole-dance look that Page Six traced to a vintage Victoria’s Secret set once worn by Naomi Campbell. It’s camp, couture, and chaos on purpose.
Island promoted the single-and-video drop as part of a wider album campaign; Stereogum and UPI covered the tandem release the morning it landed.