Eric Vetro is proud of Sabrina Carpenter’s journey.
The 68-year-old vocal coach, whose clients include Ariana Grande and Shawn Mendes, has worked with the “Espresso” singer, 25, since she was 12 years old, and he’s not at all shocked by her journey from Disney Channel darling to global superstar status — or her turn to sexier lyrics as an adult.
“She always had a fun sense of humor that was a tiny bit risqué in general,” Vetro tells PEOPLE. “It didn’t surprise me because it didn’t happen all at once.”
Carpenter first started putting out music around the time she began starring on Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World in 2014, and she released four albums before 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send, which spawned her breakthrough hits “Nonsense” and “Feather.”
The young star skyrocketed to A-list status earlier this year with the singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” from her sixth album, Short n’ Sweet — her first to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
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She’s currently in the midst of her blockbuster Short n’ Sweet Tour, which wrapped its North American leg last month and marked her first-ever headlining arena concerts.
From an early stage of her career, Vetro recognized her potential. “I remember the first time I saw her on stage, I was really shocked at how charismatic and confident she was,” he says. “She would strut across that stage like she was an old pro, and this is when she was 16, 17 years old.”
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Spending time with Carpenter in vocal lessons, Vetro says the “cheeky” side of her personality was always on display, so the racy nature of Short n’ Sweet tracks like “Bed Chem” and “Juno” felt like a natural progression for the artist.
“I’ve seen it happen so incrementally that it didn’t shock me,” he explains, adding that Carpenter remains “classy” through her tongue-in-cheek moments. “She rides that line really, really well. She never falls into anything that’s trashy… It’s sexy and fun, all the innuendos.”
Vetro recently offered up his skills to the public for BBC Maestro’s “Sing Like the Stars” course, an eight-hour series of videos featuring advice from his star students including Carpenter, John Legend and Marissa Jaret Winokur.
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