Although Sabrina Carpenter could have taken a visual route that more closely matched the very overt sexual innuendo of “House Tour,” which marks her third single from Man’s Best Friend (following “Manchild” and “Tears”), she decided instead to make it less an homage to (being fucked by) men, and more to the mischief of female friendship. Not only that, but an homage to a certain group of people known for breaking into famous people’s houses from 2008 to 2009. At a time when the internet was just starting to fully reveal itself as a nefarious tool for stalking.
In the supporting roles of Carpenter’s “Pretty Girl Clean-Up Crew” are Margaret Qualley (which tracks considering her husband, Jack Antonoff, has now co-written and produced a lot of Carpenter’s work) and Madelyn Cline (lately known for leading roles in Glass Onion, the I Know What You Did Last Summer requel and The Map That Leads to You). Each one dressed in a specific sartorial style that is immediately meant to indicate that this is an era of the past. In fact, Qualley looks as if she gave both Carpenter and Cline a few tips on how to dress from her stint on the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood set.
Before the trio unveils their ensembles, however, the viewer sees a pink van pulling into a driveway with “Pretty Girl Clean-Up Crew” scrawled in cursive across the side. Afterward, Carpenter’s bloody high heel slams down on the pavement to announce her arrival. She then takes her shoes off and switches into an even more stripper-y red pair before prancing off toward the front door, quickly tailed by Qualley and Cline. The whole vibe is immediately very “creepy crawling” à la the Manson family (so again, there’s a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood kind of connection). But, of course, the most overt “nod” or “reference” (since everything has to be a reference now, no matter how esoteric) is to the Bling Ring, both the actual “enterprise” and the 2013 movie of the same name directed by Sofia Coppola. Which made the ragtag group of L.A.-area teens all the more (in)famous.
Coppola’s film even starts out in a similar fashion to Carpenter’s video, with a group of teenagers parking outside of a house, climbing a gate to get in and then easily gaining entry into an open side door of a celebrity mansion. For Carpenter, the “easy access” is by way of a key clichély stored under the mat (this in itself an allusion to a line in The Bling Ring about Paris Hilton that goes, “I bet she’d leave her keys under the mat”). Picking it up and unlocking the door, the 80s-centric opening notes to the song begin to play as Carpenter and co. run through the house as though they’re, you guessed it, kids in a candy store.
As each pursue their own “goals” within the house (which ultimately amounts to chasing separate butterflies), Cline embodies a decidedly Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) from Mean Girls role, doing “ditzy” things like playing the “glass harp,” while Carpenter, as a Taurus, is more focused on food-based pursuits like taking a popsicle out of the freezer. As for Qualley, she’s got her eye on some specific interior design pieces, including a very heavy-looking lamp that she effortless runs around with. Just one of many tells that the “time period” of this video looks like it’s in the late 1960s/early 1970s—this along with the clothes that the “Pretty Girl Clean-Up Crew” have opted to wear for their heist. So yes, in this sense, it puts them closer to the Manson family than the Bling Ring. Though, admittedly, there’s even a dash of Home Alone referencing in the mix, especially when Qualley comes across a tarantula (though she isn’t in any way terrified of it like Kevin [Macaulay Culkin] was of Buzz’s [Devin Ratray]).
Not wanting to totally let the opportunity for the innuendo of the lyrics to slip away, Carpenter does take advantage when the phrase, “I could take you to the first, second, third floor” plays in the midst of various scene cuts to the trio taking off their already scant amount of clothing (for Carpenter, it’s the unhooking of her bra, followed by the dropping of a couple panties). Depending on who you ask, the reference to a first, second and third floor could mean the “tiers” of her body (head, torso and all that’s down below) or the number of “bases” used to describe where a person gets in their sexual activity.
Elsewhere, there’s also an impromptu sword fight between Carpenter and Qualley, the discovery of a painting that appears to be the Mona Lisa (the trio isn’t convinced of its authenticity), Carpenter taking a bubble bath (while Qualley meta-ly reads from a copy of Are You There God? It’s Me, Maragaret—another “tell” of the era they’re supposed to be in), Qualley and Cline playing a, let’s call it, loose game of pool, dancing under disco balls, some pilfering of what Slayyyter would call old technology and some going apeshit in a closet with a layout and size that Carrie Bradshaw would surely appreciate.
It’s in this closet that the murkiness of the time period they want to convey arises. This because Carpenter claps on the lights, even though that kind of “technology” wasn’t really “a thing” until the mid-80s with The Clapper. As for the security camera that they dance for in the closet, it’s still in line with the video being set in the late 60s/early 70s, as the first at-home security system was patented in 1969, and that’s definitely something a rich person would have bought tout de suite.
As their antics escalate in the closet, they also extend to the outdoor area, with the trio taking advantage of the pool, as well as the opportunity to flash their bums as they dive into the water right as Carpenter sings, “I just want you to come inside/But never enter through the back door.” Oh Carpenter and her “raunch.”
Although it seems that the “Pretty Girl Clean-Up Crew” could “go all night,” their fun is interrupted when Carpenter spots a police helicopter hovering outside, prompting her to whistle to get the other two’s attention so that they can hightail it out of there (but not before Carpenter snatches a Grammy off the mantel—an ironic wink at her own recent win and also, whether she realizes it or not, another Manson family-type allusion in that Manson was obsessed with other successful musicians, not able to become one himself). Which is exactly what they do, not so much as batting an eyelash in fear. In fact, Qualley flounces upstairs right behind the police as they enter the house.
Cline isn’t joining them in the van this time around though, instead stealing a car from the garage with the cute dog from the house in tow (along with many, many purses) and following behind the pink vehicle. One that pulls out to reveal it has a “Just Robbed a House” sign on the back of it, for added “subtlety” to their entire operation. So it is that the “Pretty Girl Clean-Up Crew” leaves in a hurry, with Carpenter also continuing the tradition of killing someone in her music videos (as she said in “Tears,” “It’s a thing, someone has to die every video”) by pulling a Cher Horowitz-level driving maneuver and running a man over. Although briefly shocked by it, Carpenter and Qualley, who co-directed this together, shrug it off and keep on truckin’—likely to the next house they’ll take a “tour” of.
As a final “tag” to the narrative, the camera cuts to a note left behind by Sabrina and co., treating the place as if it were an Airbnb by telling their “hosts,” “Thank you for having us! We had the best stay and will be sure to recommend to all of our friends! -pretty girl cleanup.” The decorative flourish of a kiss mark and chewed-up piece of gum affixed to the note is meant only to add to the “charm.” And as the tarantula crawls over and past it, one is left to wonder which house the trio might hit up next…or if they might simply return to their own “lair” of a home to go through their haul.
