After half her life of trying, Sabrina Carpenter is finally having a moment.

In the past seven weeks, she has had three songs enter the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, the longest streak ever for a woman and not too far behind champions 50 Cent (11 weeks in 2005) and the Beatles (10 weeks in 2005). Year 1964) and Justin Bieber (10 weeks in 2016).

After appearing as a musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” in May, her inescapable hit “Espresso” was cleverly parodied by host Ariana Grande on Saturday’s episode. (Carpenter, 25, reposted the clip on Instagram with multiple heart emojis.) Social media and tabloids are breathlessly covering her every move, outfit and date. Her sixth album, “Short n’ Sweet,” received rave reviews and is the second-longest-running No. 1 album of the year behind Taylor Swift, an obvious influence.

By all accounts, the former Disney Channel star’s career is the hottest it’s ever been since she started acting at age 12. So it was a surprise that her tour didn’t provide tickets to local critics or allow press photographers to cover her completely sold-out Monday night concert at the Target Center in Minneapolis. (Scalpers got $500 for the worst seats in the house.)

What is Carpenter trying to hide?

After watching her 85-minute performance, it’s not immediately clear. It received some negative reviews for its short running time, despite the setlist being drawn exclusively from its first adult album (2022’s “Emails I Can’t Send”) and its new album, with which the tour shares its name. (Truth in advertising!)

Perhaps it was because Carpenter consciously moved away from the youth-friendly pop of her early days to a more explicit, sexually charged style. However, she still has a significant number of young fans. On Monday night, a trio of people who appeared to be elementary school students sat in front of me and it was, um, strange to see them singing along to Carpenter’s hot single “Bed Chem” on stage with the phrase “Parental discretion advised.” was introduced,” was shown on the big screens and ended with a muscular cameraman taking off his shirt and Carpenter climbing on top of him.

Whatever the case, Carpenter proved to be a solid live performer with a great sense of how she wants to present herself to the world. Their highly choreographed show was based on a 1970s television variety show that took place at a slumber party.

Carpenter opened the show with what looked like a beach towel until she opened it to reveal a sparkly leotard and suspenders, the first of many outfits she would wear that evening. From then on she alternated between her last two albums, with the “Short n’ Sweet” numbers receiving the greater response. (The laid-back album is synth-pop, but not really dance music. At times it’s a little reminiscent of ’80s Fleetwood Mac.)

On “Espresso” and much of the new album, Carpenter sings in a hushed whisper. But live, she proved she has a big voice when she uses it, like on “Fast Times” and “Read Your Mind.”

At one point, she stepped onto the heart-shaped top of a catwalk that extended from her stage. The heart sank to create a conversational level where her backup dancers joined her for “Coincidence” and her surprise evening cover song, which Carpenter chose while spinning a bottle. Madonna’s “Material Girl” was Monday’s winner and, in case the crowd didn’t know, the words appeared on the big screens karaoke-style.

I wonder how many of the Zoomers in the audience understood the references to ’70s variety shows, analog television and, well, conversation pits. But Carpenter proved to be such a charming performer that it didn’t matter whether they did or not.