"Feather" is song by American singer Sabrina Carpenter from Emails I Can't Send Fwd:, the 2023 deluxe edition of her fifth studio album, Emails I Can't Send (2022). Carpenter wrote it with songwriter Amy Allen and its producer, John Ryan. Island Records released its sped-up version for digital download and streaming on August 4, 2023. A pop and neo-disco song, "Feather" is a post-breakup track which celebrates the freedom and relief one feels upon ending a relationship and shedding its weight.
Music critics praised the production of "Feather" and believed it was easy to listen to. In the United States, the song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Carpenter's first one to reach the top 40. It was also her first number one on the Pop Airplay chart. The song reached the top 20 in Honduras, Latvia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia and Brazil.
In 2013, it was reported that Sabrina Carpenter had signed a five-album contract with Hollywood Records.[1][2][3] She released several projects in the following years, but all of her albums failed to reach the top 25 on the American albums chart and did not produce any top 40 singles.[4] In January 2021, Carpenter signed a deal with Island Records.[5][6] She achieved her first Billboard Hot 100 chart entry with "Skin" (2021), perceived to be an answer song to Olivia Rodrigo's 2021 single "Drivers License".[7] Carpenter pursued a more personal songwriting style on her first album with the label, Emails I Can't Send (2022), which was conceived during the COVID-19 lockdowns and inspired by emails she would write to herself.[8][9] She worked with songwriters like Amy Allen, Skyler Stonestreet, Julia Michaels, and Steph Jones.[10] The album was released on July 15, 2022, and included the single "Nonsense", which reached number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100.[11][12]
Shortly before embarking on the Emails I Can't Send Tour in September 2022, Carpenter recorded the song "Feather", which she wrote with Allen and John Ryan.[10][13][14] It was included on the album's 2023 deluxe edition, Emails I Can't Send Fwd:, which she did not view as a follow-up to the original album but "just a few songs that belong in the Emails world" to thank her fans.[15] Carpenter's manager thought it would help extend the album campaign and aligned its release with the promotion for "Nonsense".[14] Island released a sped-up version of "Feather" as a single on August 4, 2023, and included it on a 7-inch vinyl alongside the original version.[16][17] Carpenter's manager wanted to employ a "traditional pop single campaign" and waited for the song to gain popularity following its music video's release before sending it for airplay.[14] She also gained more recognition while serving as an opening act on Taylor Swift's 2023-2024 concert tour, the Eras Tour.[18]Republic Records eventually promoted it to radio in the United States.[19]
"Feather" is a pop and neo-disco song,[4][20] which lasts for three minutes and five seconds.[21] Ryan produced, programmed, and engineered the song. Chris Gehringermastered it at Sterling Sound in New York City, and Josh Gudwin helmed mixing with assistance from Heidi Wang.[10] Carpenter employs a delicate vocal style on "Feather", including during the titular lyric: "I feel so much lighter like a feather with you off my mind".[20] Its "do-do-do" melody is reminiscent of Paula Cole's 1997 single "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" according to Rolling Stone India's Amit Vaidya.[22]
"Feather" is a post-breakup song which celebrates the freedom and relief one feels upon ending a relationship and shedding its weight.[20][23][24] Carpenter begins by describing a toxic relationship characterized by immaturity and inconsistency, illustrating the dynamic where her partner initially seems thrilled but then becomes distant and uncommitted when she attempts to make plans. She resolves to not get entangled in a back-and-forth and decides to step away from him to unwind, and in the pre-chorus, expresses that she will block and ignore him in the future.[20] Carpenter compares the lightness she feels upon leaving him to a feather.[23][25] Reminiscing their memories together, she refers to him as a "waste of time" who used to "act like a bitch" and ask her to do stereotypical things like send him pictures.[20][26][27]
Music critics praised the production of "Feather" and believed it was easy to listen to. Slate's Chris Molanphy described the song as "a neo-disco bop", and American Songwriter's Alex Hopper called it a "pop gem".[20][4] Hopper further described Carpenter's vocals as that of a "pop-princess" and the chorus as light and digestible "pure pop fodder".[20] He thought its melody was infectious and perfectly satisfied his craving for a danceable beat.[20] Vaidya included "Feather" at number 57 in Rolling Stone India's list of the top songs of 2023 and believed it was tuneful, astutely personal, and sincere.[22]
In Australia, "Feather" peaked at number 23 and was certified 2× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.[34][35] The song charted at number 40 in New Zealand and received a platinum certification from Recorded Music NZ.[36][37] It reached number 43 on the Billboard Global 200.[38] Elsewhere, "Feather" peaked within the top 50 at number 14 in Honduras and Singapore,[39][40] number 16 in Latvia,[41] number 18 in Malaysia,[42] number 25 in Ireland,[43] number 26 in the Netherlands,[44] and number 48 in the Philippines.[45] The song received a 3× platinum certification in Brazil[46] and gold in Poland and Portugal.[47][48]
Mia Barnes directed the horror-inspired music video for "Feather",[24][49] which features Milo Manheim as one of the male characters.[50] Carpenter teased the horror theme by sharing a clip of it on Instagram on October 30, 2023. The video was released the following day to coincide with Halloween, and Carpenter shared behind-the-scenes photographs of her posing with cast mates, showcasing her wardrobe, and others of her splattered with fake blood and in a crop-top.[23][51]
The video begins with shots of a pastel-colored coffin that reads "RIP bitch", neon crosses, and a gravestone etched with "He was just okay"[52][53] inside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel/Annunciation Parish church, following which Carpenter arrives outside in a bubblegum pink hearse.[54][55] Three men reading a book called "Tampons should be free" follow and catcall her,[52][56][57] before getting ran over by a truck. Carpenter takes a boxing class in a gym while clad in stilettos and knee-highs.[27][54] Several men there gruesomely fight each other and she becomes covered in their blood.[58][56][59] Another man non-consensually takes a photograph up Carpenter's skirt without the flash turned off while they are in an elevator together.[54][60] She pulls his tie while exiting it and puts it between the elevator shaft, decapitating him in the process.[54][61] It is then revealed that Carpenter is at the church to attend a joint funeral for the men that have died during the course of the video.[62] Clad in a short black tulle dress and veil,[63][64] she dances afront the coffins and several religious items at the altar, instead of mourning their deaths.[61][59]
Critics believed the video was entertaining to watch on Halloween,[57][65] and Lexi Lane of Uproxx thought it gave Carpenter's fans everything they could have desired.[27] It received comparisons to different movies. Rolling Stone's Larisha Paul believed the video "finds a middle ground between Jennifer's Body and Final Destination, with a pop girl twist".[54] Several others also likened the visuals to Jennifer's Body,[23][52]Promising Young Woman (2020),[4][66] and Bottoms (2023).[27][58] Lane believed the church scenes recalled the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet.[27]Vulture's Justin Curto called Carpenter's character "the Girlfriend Reaper and compared it to the Grim Reaper.[65]
Two days after the video's release, Robert J. Brennan, the Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn, issued a statement that he was "appalled" by what was filmed inside the church. He indicated that the parish did not adhere to the diocesan policy on filming within church grounds, which requires a review of the scenes and script.[66][63] The administrative duties of Monsignor Gigantiello, the priest who gave Carpenter's team the permission to shoot inside the church, were subsequently terminated.[67] He stated that he approved the filming in September, because his online search about Carpenter did not reveal anything worrisome and he wanted to increase the church's appeal to youth.[68][69] While he was informed that a funeral scene would be filmed inside the church, he believed most of it would be done outside the church building and Carpenter's team did not appropriately represent the video's content. The church held a Mass of Reparation on November 4, 2024, to "restore the sanctity of this church and repair the harm".[69][70][71] Many parishioners and churchgoes supported Gigantiello and believed the punishment was too harsh.[56][72] Carpenter responded to the controversy by saying "we got approval in advance"[73][74] and proclaiming that "Jesus was a carpenter".[75][76][77] Writing for The A.V. Club, Emma Keates believed "the video rules" and the controversy contributed to her "new, cool girl persona", also praising Carpenter's response.[18]
Carpenter performed "Feather" on the Emails I Can't Send Tour and the Eras Tour.[14][78] She reprised "Feather" and "Nonsense" at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show on September 12, 2023.[79][80] The following month, Carpenter released a live version of the former for the Spotify Singles series, which People's Jack Irvin believed was upraised but stayed true to the original song.[81][82] She opened her KIIS-FM Jingle Ball set with the song in December 2023, clad in a red mini-dress and gloves on one date and a white corset top, shorts, and gloves on another.[26][83] Carpenter sang it at the 2023 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with male dancers in suits.[84][85] On May 18, 2024, she performed a mashup of "Feather" and "Nonsense" on Saturday Night Live in a rose gold jumpsuit decorated with feathers alongside background dancers dressed in white. Carpenter replaced the lyric "I'm so sorry for your loss" with "I'm on SNL and you're not". Uproxx's Alex Gonzalez described the performance as "angelic" and believed she dominated the stage but the dancers were equally energetic.[86][87][88] Carpenter reprised "Feather" at Capital's Summertime Ball 2024.[89]