If there’s one thing that the best streaming services are lacking, its holiday variety specials with singing, costume changes, comedy sketches and celebrity guests – enter Sabrina Carpenter and A Nonsense Christmas. When Netflix announced the holiday music variety special, I immediately posted it in the group chat I share with my closest friends and being the Sabrina super stans that we are, our reactions were a little more than excited.
The 50-minute Netflix special (released on December 6) is the perfect hybrid of SNL and I Love Lucy, paying homage to American comedy of the past and present – with twice the celebrity guests and costume changes. But beneath the cheeky innuendos and festive musical numbers is a modern bona fide pop star with a knack for hosting and making you feel welcomed, which is why A Nonsense Christmas is easily one of the new best Netflix shows for me.
It’s difficult to narrow down the highlights of Carpenter’s Netflix Christmas special, but that’s why you have me. And after watching it twice and fighting the temptation to go back in for round three, there are five moments from A Nonsense Christmas that have stuck with me since watching. Each of them reflects not only Netflix’s good side when it comes to its Christmas content, but highlights Sabrina Carpenter’s stature as one of the biggest emerging pop artists right now.
The 1950s-style commercial segments
Right off the bat, Sabrina Carpenter draws us in with a whimsical commercial break-like scene right before her first musical guest takes to the stage. It certainly packs the campy touch we’ve come to know and love with mid-20th century TV ads, zooming in on a small retro TV set giving the impression of a classic commercial, showing Carpenter fixing up an espresso martini with Kahlua and Absolut Vodka, all while resisting the urge to reference her song ‘Espresso’.
Right before her duet with Shania Twain to Eartha Kitt’s ‘Santa Baby’, Carpenter returns to her set kitchen for some festive baking flaunting a box of Betty Crocker yellow cake mix. Not since Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s music video for ‘Telephone’ have I ever seen this much product placement in such a short period of time.
Honoring George Michael with Chappell Roan
Carpenter’s line-up of celebrity musical guests was nothing less than spectacular, kicking off the Christmas special with a duet to ‘This Christmas’ with Tyla, followed by appearances from Shania Twain and Kali Uchis. But the stand-out musical performance was when Sabrina walked out with fellow emerging pop girl Chappell Roan.
Stepping out into a living room that appears to have reaped the aftermath of a Christmas house party, the two jam out karaoke-style to a song fit only for someone of Chappell Roan’s queer stature – ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham. Its revamped dream-pop arrangement is magical to watch, and their vocal pairing makes it the best musical duet of the entire Christmas special. If he were still with us, George Michael would’ve given the biggest stamp of approval.
Skits fit for SNL
In between the whimsy and campiness that’s clearly inspired by sitcoms like I Love Lucy, Carpenter is a joy to watch in the sketches – each referential in their own respect while packing comedic parody elements. They feel very familiar, and could’ve easily been conjured in the SNL writers room.
Much like a regular SNL show, A Nonsense Christmas has all the peaks and valleys you could want from a comedy sketch show beginning with a scene where Carpenter’s friends meet her new ‘boyfriend’ – who happens to be Santa Claus himself. After a scene where she sings about what present to get her brother-in-law over a generic trap beat with a vocoder, Carpenter parodies the Christmas ghosts from A Christmas Carol, but rebranded to ‘spirits of ghosted’ who confront an ex-boyfriend. It’s very Gen-Z, and I love it.
Costume changes you couldn’t count on both hands
It wouldn’t be a classic music variety special without a good costume change, or 12. Opening the special stood on top of a tiered platform, Sabrina Carpenter embodies classic Marilyn Monroe proving once again that diamonds are in fact a girl’s best friend. But that’s just the beginning.
Her nod to Monroe only scratches the surface of the catalog of looks, one of the most memorable being the Bob Mackie-inspired tassel number she wears in her duet with Tyla. But just like her comedy sketches, Carpenter gives peaks and valleys with her outfits with the more casual sweater and skirt pairings – but even then she’s still standing tall in platforms, with which she has become synonymous.
A show-vibrating finale
Sabrina Carpenter’s high energy and holiday cheer is filtered throughout her Netflix variety special until the very last minute. With that said, I’d argue that the show’s finale is the most captivating part of A Nonsense Christmas.
Returning to the tiered platform on which she opened the variety special, Carpenter surely knows how to go out with a bang in the most festive way possible. Snow starts falling, dancers are decked in red and white Santa outfits, and Carpenter takes to the mic to perform a Christmas remix of her song ‘Nonsense’. Boding farewell to the audience, her dancer kindly hands Carpenter a gift-wrapped box seemingly containing a ‘massager’. I mean, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a good old gift exchange.