Sabrina Carpenter has addressed the online conversation about her reaction to the loud, high-pitched cheering from the crowd during her Coachella performance on Friday night (April 10).
It appears that the pop star was unaware that it was the trilling vocal sound known as the zagrouta, a chant popular in various cultures meant to honor and celebrate. (Music fans will remember Shakira expressing herself this way during her 2020 Super Bowl halftime show, when she wagged her tongue at the camera before singing “Hips Don’t Lie.” Shakira, who is half-Colombian and half-Lebanese, was paying homage to her Middle Eastern roots.)
During the Coachella livestream and in the video recording broadcast internet Carpenter on stage Friday in Indio, California man’s best friend The singer was seen sitting with a confused expression on her face as she heard the sound on the piano, and was heard saying, “I don’t like it.”
When someone in the crowd shouted, “This is my culture!” Carpenter responded, “This is your culture, yodeling?” before adding, “Is this Burning Man? What’s happening? This is weird.”
On Saturday, Carpenter followed up on his comments made on stage.
“I regret that I did not see this person with my own eyes and could not hear clearly,” Carpenter Wrote in response to a post on X It accused the artist of reacting in an “insensitive and Islamophobic” manner.
The pop star added: “My reaction was pure confusion, sarcasm and no ill intent.”
“This could have been handled better!” He said. “Now I know what Zaghrouta is! I welcome all the enthusiasm and good wishes from here.”
Zaghrouta is often used by women in the Middle East and North Africa as a way to express happiness, and – as explained by the educational resource Arab America — “Best described in English as ‘ululation’.” It is a form of long, wavering, high-pitched sound representing waves of joy. It is produced by rapidly moving the tongue back and forth and making high-pitched sounds.
Carpenter headlined one of the first weekends of Coachella 2026 on Friday. The lead role comes exactly two years after her first performance at the annual festival – the time when she accurately predicted, “Coachella, I’ll see you back here when I headline” in the ad-libbed lyrical outro of her song “Nonsense”. Since then, she has released two Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, 2024 short and sweet and 2025 man’s best friend.
