Watch pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter, aged 10, cosplaying Axl Rose to cover Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine
Regardless of how fanatical and undiluted your love of rock and metal is, you cannot possibly be unaware of the existence of pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter.
A former Disney TV star, the 26-year-old singer's 2024's album Short n' Sweet, topped the national charts in no fewer than 18 countries, and included three UK number one singles: her upcoming seventh album, Man's Best Friend, is due on August 29, has already yielded one UK/US chart-topper in the form of single Manchild. Basically, she's kinda a big deal.
But before international superstardom beckoned, Carpenter, like almost every 'overnight success' in the music industry, worked for years honing her craft. And as part of her musical education, she was schooled in classic rock - Queen, The Beatles, Rush, Guns N' Roses, Ozzy Osbourne and more - by her father David. "The Trees is the longest song I've ever heard," the singer joked to Rolling Stone earlier this year about Rush's classic single from 1978's Hemispheres album. "I heard it my whole childhood."
Remarkably, there's no shortage of visual evidence of Carpenter's early years in existence online. Want to see her perform The Beatles' Come Together, back in 2009? Here you go. Wonder what she sounded like, aged 12, channelling her inner Prince Of Darkness? Wonder no more.
Ah yes, you cry, but I bet she wouldn't have dared try to emulate Axl Rose's distinctive vocals, by covering a Guns N' Roses classic? But that's where you're wrong, friend.
Behold, Sabrina Carpenter, aged 10, and her cover of Sweet Child O' Mine.
If, by chance, hearing this has made you wonder what other unusual or unheralded covers of this Gn'R classic exist out there on the World Wide Web, here are 10 of the most interesting covers of Sweet Child... , ranging across the musical spectrum from jazz to house, ska to goth, electro to metalcore.
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New York Times
31 minutes ago
- New York Times
Mikel Arteta exclusive: His ‘evolution' as a manager and the ‘gift' of young talent
'Every artist has their critics.' That is the title of a striking piece of artwork hung high above the London skyline, depicting a brooding photograph of Mikel Arteta marking out something that looked like stream-of-consciousness ideas in black paint. The notion of Arteta the artist is an interesting one for a manager whose team is built on core values of control, work ethic, unity and a specialism in set pieces. Advertisement As for the other part, Arteta is very accustomed to living with critics, so that part feels less open to interpretation. He is also a strong self-critic. For any manager, there is a fascinating contradiction in that they have to be unbendingly sure of themselves in order to lead a group of highly-tuned performers in the face of heavy public pressure, but also be open-minded enough to question themselves, adjust their own principles and absorb new ones. The game moves. So must they. Which is exactly where we find Arteta in the summer of 2025. He is about to begin his seventh season in charge of Arsenal and is speaking to The Athletic after being announced as sportswear company Under Armour's new global ambassador and director of sporting performance. Just like Arteta's football philosophy, the culture he wants to cultivate and his methods for pushing the boundaries are not fixed. They remain in development — and the way his mind works, it will stay that way until his last day in management. 'There is much more to come,' he says. 'Because the manager that the boys needed three years ago is a different manager than they need today. The team has grown so much in every sense of that word that they need somebody else — and that somebody else has to adapt and identify what is really important, what is really going to get that fire in the belly to get the best out of them. That's the evolution of the manager. 'It's not just the idea of changing. If we go to YouTube and the next evolution is, 'Oh look, he has put this player in this space!' that's not evolution of the manager.' So what does he want to be for his players now that he wasn't before? 'Exactly what they need, and each of them are going to require a different manager,' he explains. 'Each of them are going to require at some point a certain something that they don't expect from the manager. And that's the beauty of it. When it's something new — 'Oof, that is going to make me better and I didn't see that coming'.' Arteta's mind is constantly whirring to come up with an idea that might bring a spark, new motivation, a tiny detail that can make a difference. It might be a team challenge or a private talk, an unexpected metaphor or a trick. Where do all these things come from? 'Put in the hours,' he says. 'When you are working on something, that triggers something else. Having a conversation with somebody about one topic creates so many other things, and that stays in your brain and sometimes at night, sometimes in the shower, sometimes when I'm on the pitch looking at something, I say: 'I'll have this.'' Advertisement It all stems from what he calls 'the power of the conversation'. Ideas are everywhere if you just care to listen out for the flicker. Arteta has more one-to-one chats with his players these days. 'It's not always easy, though,' he counters. 'Because the player always wants something from the manager and that is more game time. But the player needs to understand: the more competitive it gets, the squad gets bigger and you're going to have to share. You will be extremely important whether you play 60 minutes or the last 30 and that's something to learn.' Surely that will be one of the most sensitive challenges, to get, say, Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz to collaborate to share game time. Or Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Califiori. Or Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli. And so on. It is a modern football requirement. 'We cannot take away the fact that the desire to play every game is something super positive,' Arteta says. 'What we need to understand is that I have to make a decision to play a player for a certain reason, and maybe I pick the player next to you, and that's not easy.' So much so, occasionally Arteta goes home and feels sad. Because if, on the one hand, giving someone an opportunity can 'transform his life', on the other hand, a player on the downward curve senses his raison d'être diminishing. These are big feelings to manage. 'That person is probably in this country alone without his family and the only reason why he's in this country is to play football, to play minutes, and you're taking that away from them. That's tough.' It weighs heavily sometimes. The life of a football manager is pretty unusual. But it demands the ability to keep moving, keep demanding, keep inspiring, and keep taking the big decisions. Day one of pre-season is always a big one. It's the time for a manager to look directly at his players and see how much desire he can detect. This time, Arteta was very pleased with what he saw. 'I look at their eyes and their bodies, and they tell you straight away how much they want it. They looked in great shape. You can talk. 'Yeah, yeah, boss, it's gonna be a great season. I'm gonna do this…' They come on day one and they have three or four kilograms. Big problem. Our players came in and they were looking incredibly fit.' They are ready. He is ready. Vamos. Arteta is talking ambition, vision and values — the aspects he picked out about Under Armour which persuaded him to work with the sportswear company. At the launch event, there is some discussion about how Under Armour has a reputation for scrapping it out, but how they want to take big, audacious steps to be a serious player in the football market. Advertisement They saw in Arteta someone they identified with, as founder and CEO Kevin Plank explains: 'We brag about being underdogs — being for all those not born big enough, tall enough, fast enough, strong enough, smart enough, pretty or handsome enough, for all those that didn't feel like they were born in the pole position but had to work for it, to struggle to fight through something, of striving to be more, striving to be better. 'And Mikel has led a very similar story as a player: he played in the biggest clubs but there were always others he had to compete against, so you watched him work with the hand that he was dealt and having the ability to rise to the highest level.' Plank is a highly successful businessman. He saw something compelling in Arteta straight away. He tells the story of their first meeting. It was scheduled for breakfast at the manager's north London home, the morning after the final day of the 2023-24 season. Plank went to the game. Arsenal beat Everton 2-1 but the mood was loaded with what might have been as they finished up second in the league after Manchester City bulldozed past them. Plank figured the meeting would be cancelled. It wasn't. Arteta showed up, ready to have a conversation. As a manager, there is a steeliness mixed in with all those creative ideas he loves. 'Every artist has their critics.' It is beginning to make a lot more sense. And here's another apparent contradiction about Arteta. Not so long ago, detractors created a narrative that he was not a believer in young talent. Evidence in recent times obliterates that, with the emergence of Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri last season and the extraordinary elevation of 15-year-old Max Dowman to the first team being carefully managed by Arteta, his coaching staff, the club's safeguarding team and the teenager's family. Two other youngsters, Marli Salmon and Andre Harriman-Annous, featured in Arsenal's first team for the first time in pre-season. The truth is, overseeing the transition of a youthful talent into the first team is one of the most rewarding and stimulating aspects of Arteta's job. It is, he says, 'a massive gift and a big responsibility' that requires the greatest consideration. 'There's nothing guaranteed in sports. It's not about giving the opportunity for the sake of it. When someone is really knocking on your door and giving you every reason, every single day, to earn that opportunity, you have to give it to them. If there is a passion that I have and something that I love, it's that. But at Arsenal, especially at this level, you really have to earn it and be so good.' Advertisement Arteta is a father to three sons. He likes to take them to Hale End, Arsenal's academy, when he drops in several times a season to see how things are going. That paternal instinct impacts how he assesses the balance between looking after a prodigy from a human perspective versus recognising the platform to allow brilliance to flourish at their best level. As a father and a manager, he feels the nuances deeply. 'With Max, for example, my eldest is 16,' he says. 'When I look at Max, he is one year younger than my son, you know?' He smiles at the madness of it all. 'I know the conversations I have with my son and the things that we have to be on top of, so I can imagine exactly how Max lives at home and the conversations that his parents are having with him and the things that they need to be constantly teaching and educating him with. So it's something fascinating. But he's showing great maturity, and it's a credit to his family as well, the way they are raising that kid.' Arteta has observed a transformation in youth development since his own days as a kid at La Masia, Barcelona's fabled academy. 'It's the evolution of the game. I think if you asked me at 15 if I could play with the first team? Impossible. It was honestly impossible. I could not do it, not mentally, not physically. 'All the tools, all the training, all the education and all the development that they are now having at a very young age are paying off. A lot of work has been done in this country and that's why those players at 15, 16 years old look ready to play men's football, and that's very, very strange.' Even for him, it is taking some getting used to. The environment is another key, and Arteta credits the senior players at Arsenal for being thoughtful and welcoming role models. 'We are lucky because the players that we have,' he adds. 'They are really caring. They are really supportive and they are genuinely happy to see somebody do that. Sometimes that is not always the case, but I think they have the right environment at Arsenal to grow and fulfil their potential.' Arsene Wenger — another keen promoter of youth — always tempered his enthusiasm with realism. One of his sayings was, 'You pay with points'. But when he considered burgeoning ability unstoppable, he would do it, no question. Advertisement 'Arsene used to say that a lot and I understand why,' Arteta says. 'The temptation will always be to give the opportunity to the players who have experience, and if they make mistakes, it will be less and they have probably made mistakes already. But if you have the choice between a young player that you are so convinced about the qualities, and another player, and take a little risk? I think it's worth it. 'In football, nothing guarantees winning games. It doesn't matter what age you have in your passport, what experience you have. You have to have the sense that the player is prepared to handle a certain situation and has the personality to overcome exposure at this level.' Interestingly, he also uses the safe space of London Colney to get a few bumps out of the system away from the mega-scrutiny of competition. Kids need a few hard knocks on the way. 'Let kids make mistakes and then support them. Sometimes we have to make them fail in training so they can learn to overcome these situations when they come up in a game.' When Arteta and Andrea Berta, Arsenal's sporting director, spend time planning the squad, Hale End is central to the conversations. 'The first thing that we do is look in the academy and see if there is any potential there that can really help in the first team, and if the answer is yes, you have the solution. If the answer is no, then you have to go to the recruitment policy. 'Ideally, you know what you want to recruit: very young, very talented and cheap. That's easy on paper! Then you have to go to the markets.' Across football, younger teenagers are making such remarkable strides that Arteta believes the governing bodies need to address the regulations about game time and freedom of movement. There are restrictions at Premier League level which are not necessarily the case worldwide. Provided someone is advanced enough and every aspect of their wellbeing is looked after, holding players back here while they can be progressing elsewhere is not something he agrees with. 'As the game has evolved, the law has to evolve,' he says. 'It is also in relation to the talent that we can recruit all over the world, because if there is great talent here, great, but we have to open our doors again. It's going to make the league, country, grassroots football, much better because the more capacity we have, the standard is going to be raised. It might take two or three, four years, but everybody afterwards will be better because the standards are higher.' The countdown to the new season is getting louder. Arteta hopes he has made the right tweaks to push his squad that little bit further this time. They have been bolstered by new signings in all departments of the team, each of whom has the capability to be challenging for playing time more or less straight away. Advertisement Arteta outlines the three pillars that he leans into often when dealing with players in general. 'I always ask three questions. Can he do it? Does he know how to do it? And does he want to do it? Maybe he can do it, but he doesn't know how to and I can teach him. If a player doesn't want to do it, it's better to leave him alone. If a player is willing to do it but doesn't know how to do it, let's work on him because we can still overcome that barrier. When the guy is not willing to do something, I think, long-term, it won't work.' The newcomers are welcomed into a group who demand of themselves and each other. They will have to lock into that, too. Arteta wouldn't have it any other way. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Webtoon Stock (WBTN) Soars an Astronomical 85% on News of Disney Deal
The stock of Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN) is up an incredible 85% on Aug. 13 after the online comic book retailer announced that it has struck a deal with Walt Disney Co. (DIS). Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. The deal, which was announced alongside strong financial results, brings Disney characters such as Luke Skywalker and Spider-Man to Webtoon's online comic book platform. That news has led WBTN stock to explode higher in early trading. Going forward, Webtoon will make comic books featuring popular Disney characters such as The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, and Star Wars available to its users. Disney owns Marvel Comics and the Star Wars franchise. The deal brings Marvel comic books to Webtoon, which already features DC Comics characters such as Superman and Batman. Surprise Profit Webtoon claims to have 155 million monthly active users on its digital comic book platform. News of the Disney deal came as Webtoon also announced a surprise profit for this year's second quarter, along with better-than-expected sales. The company reported a quarterly profit of $0.07 a share, while revenue rose 8.5% year-over-year to $348.3 million. Analysts were expecting a loss of $0.14 a share on revenue of $340.6 million from Webtoon. The comic book company went public via an initial public offering (IPO) in June 2024. Shares have struggled since then, falling 55% in 2025 before the big rebound on Aug. 13. Is WBTN Stock a Buy? The stock of Webtoon has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among eight Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on four Buy and four Hold recommendations issued in the last three months. The average WBTN price target of $11.57 implies 34.04% downside risk from current levels.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sabrina Carpenter Is Understandably ‘Freaking Out' About Her Feature on Taylor Swift's Album
Sabrina Carpenter keeps on making her dreams come true. The singer was just revealed as the sole feature on Taylor Swift's newly announced album, The Life of a Showgirl. Of course, she's totally freaking about it. 'I know someone who's freaking out and it's me,' Carpenter wrote in her Instagram story sharing the news. More from Rolling Stone Taylor Swift Was Also Obsessed With Bad Bunny's Acting in 'Happy Gilmore 2' Taylor Swift Made 'The Life of a Showgirl' While on the Eras Tour: 'I Was Physically Exhausted' Taylor Swift Reunites With Max Martin, Shellback for 'The Life of a Showgirl': 'Catching Lightning in a Bottle' A feature on Swift's 12th album would be a big deal for anyone, but it's especially momentous for Carpenter, who has idolized the superstar for years. 'I hold her to such a different echelon,' she told Rolling Stone last year. 'I could never compare my life, my career, my trajectory to anything close to what she's done,' she added. Back in 2009, around when Carpenter first started uploading YouTube covers of popular songs, she delivered a passionate rendition of Swift's 'Picture to Burn.' In 2023, Carpenter brought her manifestation to life when she opened for Swift on the pop star's triumphant Eras Tour. 'I've been just as obsessed with her as everyone has,' Carpenter said at the time. 'It's so weird when you're hanging out as two young women as opposed to thinking about when she goes onstage and is that person and when I go onstage.' The two singers joined forces on the Eras Tour stage once more in the fall of 2024 when Carpenter came out in New Orleans for the surprise songs set. They played a lovely mash-up of Carpenter's smash hit 'Espresso' along with Swift's 'Is It Over Now?' and another Short 'n Sweet track, 'Please Please Please.' After the performance, Swift sang Carpenter's praises. 'She's as real as they come and I'm so thankful she did that for us,' she wrote on Instagram about the surprise performance. The feature marks the first musical collaboration between Swift and Carpenter and comes at the perfect time for the young singer. Carpenter will release her seventh studio album, Man's Best Friend, on Aug. 29. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked Solve the daily Crossword
