Singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter thought that she was sharing an ethereal Eat Pray Love-style musing about the life-transformation powers of travel. But she ended up unleashing one of the most raucous internet dogpiles of the week.
Speaking with Vogue Italia, the “Espresso” signer said the following: “You learn more about life in a 20-minute conversation with someone from Italy than in 20 years in the U.S.” Whatever she presumably intended as a sentimental statement of appreciation for Italian culture immediately attracted backlash after Pop Crave reposted the clip on X, the views of which crossed over 30 million. The comments were vicious, swift.
The Internet Turns on Sabrina
Within hours, X users posted an online roast of Carpenter’s cultural commentary. One user rebutted with a cutting, “Assertions like those tell more about the person who makes them than they do about the citizens to whom they are made.”
Another didn’t hold back: “I wish people would stop stroking off Europeans every chance they get. They’re already poor ignorant boastful donkeys, no need to inflate their ego even more than it already is.”
Others focused on the trope itself. “White people when they go on a foreign trip for the first time,” a user mocked, adding a meme for good measure. Another perverted the expression: “I spoke with an Italian once and discovered racisms that I never even knew.”
When Mockery Is Performance Art
The pile-on only grew more absurd. One critic went full historical takedown: “Women genuinely believe stuff like this and then wonder why they’ve been excluded from the political process and all decision-making for 99.9% of human history.”
Another dragged in pop peers: “Which suggests that Dua Lipa is among the most insightful minds in the world.”
But there was actually one genuine viral moment from a tweet that was written like a satirical short piece of fiction: “You can just say you like the food and architecture better rather than faking that Italians actually have something going on other than visiting the cafe for six hours a day, brawling with each other on the street, fornicating, catholicism, smoking, being tardy at everything, doing nothing at work, hot chip and lie.”
Beyond Sabrina: The Great Travel Narrative
The backlash soon descended into a referendum on travel influencers and millennial wanderlust tropes.
One user declared: “No you don’t and I say that as someone who both loves Italy and think Americans don’t know how to live. This ‘travel will open new perspectives’ bullshit needs to die. In practice, travel is to millennials what buying an expensive car was to their parents, namely a status symbol.”
Another chimed in: “So having been in another country now for over 6 months I could safely say that that ‘travel changed you’ crew never actually interacted with locals. We’re all about the same, you’re not that cool, now grab a beer. Let’s talk 2005 AC Milan.”
The most cutting summary? “The embodiment of the average girl on dating apps.”
What This Does for Carpenter
For Sabrina Carpenter, the quote may have been harmless romanticism. After all, she’s an international star with Vogue covers, sold-out shows, and a jet-set lifestyle. But the internet thrives on deflating lofty declarations, especially when they come from celebrities who already project glamour.
What was intended as a loving, culture-soaked commentary on Italy became an internet viral study of sentimentality’s rapid fall into satire. Carpenter has yet to reply to the backlash, but one thing is certain: That 20-minute Italian conversation just treated the internet to hours of entertainment.
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