Sabrina Carpenter has been favourably compared to Electric Light Orchestra, with listeners finding a link between the Espresso singer and Jeff Lynne.
In a post to the r/ELO subreddit, fans of Carpenter and the Lynne-fronted band found similarities between Carpenter’s Busy Woman and the overall sound of ELO. One fan wrote: “Busy Woman by Sabrina Carpenter has ELO vibes.” Another added: “Without yet listening I’m singing ‘buuuuuusy woman’.” Though there is little to connect Evil Woman and Busy Woman, the intonation of the title track delighted some users, while others compared Carpenter’s song to a lesser-known release from ELO. One user wrote: “Balance of Power vibes for sure.”
Another replied: “Calling America sounds super similar to a lot of the Killers music!” A third wrote: “I’m also reminded of Out of the Blue since it has that garbled filter in Big Wheels, Mr. Blue Sky, and Steppin’ Out.” Other users appear to have figured out the link between Carpenter and ELO, and it comes through producer Jack Antonoff.
Antonoff, who produced albums from Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, as well as fronting his own band, Bleachers, has been credited by some listeners as having an ELO tinge to his music. One user suggested: “Here’s why. Jack Antonoff, a well-known writer for many artists including Taylor Swift and of his own band, Bleachers, was once in a band called Fun. They had a lot of 70s Elo-esque songs. Listen to All the Pretty Girls.”
Another agreed, adding: “Yes, exactly. Jack fucking Antonoff. His fingers are in every pie nowadays, it seems. He’s got a way with a hook, that’s for sure.” Others have suggested Carpenter’s work and the similarity in sound to ELO is what is getting them into her work.
One user wrote of the Grammy Award winner’s music: “This was the way to get me to listen to my first Sabrina Carpenter song. Nicely ELOesque. (I kinda figured I wouldn’t hate her stuff…).” Another added: “Told my wife this the moment I heard the electronic voice!”
“Busy Woman” by Sabrina Carpenter has ELO vibes
byu/Born_Salamander_2902 inelo
A third added: “As a big fan of both and seeing them both this summer, I’m very happy about this.” Not everyone was impressed by the similarity in sound between pop sensation Carpenter and long-serving musicians ELO.
One wrote: “Shame it isn’t that memorable. Nice to hear a little vocoder synth in 2025… very throwback.” But another countered and called the Carpenter song an “amazing” achievement.
They wrote: “Wow. I’m too old to know that song, but I have ELO deeply imprinted in me, I just looked it up on Youtube, and it really does seem to be an ELO-alike song. Amazing.”
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“That garbled filter”… is called a vocoder.