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If there’s one thing Sabrina Carpenter will do, it’s put on a good show. From a small theater to a stadium, Sabrina will commit to delivering on her artistic vision. Such was the case for her Coachella 2026 headlining performance. The past few years have solidified Sabrina’s identity as a tongue-in-cheek pop star-meets-Old Hollywood pinup glamour, and her Coachella set was arguably the most evolved display of persona.
For her headlining stage, she delivered a movie-inspired production as she transformed the Main Stage into “Sabrinawood”, a fictional land where the story of a female pop star who hopes to achieve her dreams of stardom was told. Add to that the numerous actor cameo appearances and a surprise performance from Madonna herself, Sabrina went all out. But even before her headlining set, Sabrina already got the creative ball rolling by dropping with something you don’t see every day: a creative teaser video made in stop-motion animation.
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Welcome To Sabrinawood
It would have been one thing for Sabrina to have filmed a simple teaser video, but instead, she went the extra mile by having it done in stop-motion animation. The short teaser video depicts Sabrina driving from the desert to Sabrinawood. It begins with real-life Sabrina placing the car on a stage before transitioning into stop-motion as it chronicles her journey, which leads right into the opening of her headline set.
The project was spearheaded by Dessie Jackson, an artist, director, and stop-motion animator who has previously worked with other artists like Halsey and Zayn. As she shared on social media, the work was a labor of love as she had to build ten sets and four different-sized model cars just for the video, not to mention the details and designs she had to make for each scene, prop, and set piece, such as using laser lights as the car’s taillights.
Stop-motion animation isn’t easy to do as it requires objects to be photographed in small, incremental movements before it’s rendered into a sequence to simulate motion. There’s a painstaking level of attention to detail required in this style of animation to get every shot right, which makes Desiree’s work an impressive display of artistry and craftsmanship. It’s also a kind of creativity that admittedly isn’t seen often these days, especially with the increasing popularity of generative AI, where people use prompts to make “art”.
Sabrina didn’t just spotlight the work of a talented female creative and commission a cool project, but also reminded us that nothing beats the ingenuity and creativity of human-made art. In the age of AI, it’s nice to see an A-list star hire human creatives to create art like this.
Featured Image and Videos: SABRINA CARPENTER (via Instagram), DESSIE JACKSON (via Instagram)
Frequently Asked Questions
Sabrina Carpenter used labor-intensive, hand-made stop-motion animation to create a creative teaser that chronicled her journey from the desert to her fictional “Sabrinawood” stage production.
The project was spearheaded by artist and director Dessie Jackson, who is well-known for her previous stop-motion work with major music artists like Halsey and Zayn.
The process was a massive undertaking that required building ten distinct sets and four different-sized model cars, along with meticulous attention to detail for every prop and piece.
In a time where AI-generated art is increasingly common, the teaser serves as a powerful reminder of the unique ingenuity, craftsmanship, and soul found in human-made artistry.
The set was a movie-inspired production titled “Sabrinawood,” which told the story of a female pop star chasing her dreams of stardom, complete with cameos and celebrity guests.
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