Sabrina Carpenter is hopelessly devoted to keeping Olivia Newton-John’s memory alive.
While opening Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday, the “Nonsense” singer, 24, took a moment to honor the late Aussie singer and actress by performing “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from Grease for 96,000 fans.
In videos posted to social media, Carpenter can be seen crooning the iconic ballad from the 1978 movie-musical on her knees and asking the audience to sing along with her. One video in particular has been viewed more than 2.1 million times and has received some 400,000 likes.
“Olivia Newton John is Australian so this is such a beautiful tribute to her,” wrote one fan in a comment that has now received 15,000 likes.
“How beautiful, a tribute to our Olivia,” another person shared.
“That was the best version outside of Olivia’s I have ever heard,” one commenter added.
The melodious tribute comes a year and a half after Newton-John passed away in August 2022 at the age of 73. The Xanaduactress died following a long battle with breast cancer that had metastasized to other parts of her body, including her lower back.
Newton-John — who was actually born in the United Kingdom but moved to Melbourne as a child and was raised there — was a beloved daughter of the country, who honored her after her death with a special state funeral. At the time, the premier of the Australian state of Victoria confirmed that the event would be a way to thank the actress for her “music and film and all the other amazing contributions that she made.”
For her part, Carpenter, clearly gratified by the crowd’s response to her cover on night one of the Australian leg of the tour, repeated her song choice for nights two and three, which saw the same number of fans and set an overall record for Swift, 34, thus far in her career.
Prior to her trip to Oz, the “Karma” singer’s biggest show was at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where she welcomed 74,000 fans. During the first night of her Melbourne run, she even shouted out the record-breaking numbersfor her career.
“If I seem a little bit like I’m losing my mind over the fact that there are 96,000 people here tonight … it’s because it’s true,” she told the boisterous crowd, via Deadline. “This is the biggest show that we’ve ever done. I’m fully starstruck by the fact so many people wanted to hang out with us on a Friday night in Melbourne!”
The singer also took to social media to thank her fans for showing up not just once or twice, but three times, with nearly 300,000 people descending on Melbourne over the span of the weekend to come and watch her perform.
“Melbourne, what do I even say to you after over 288,000 of you came and danced with us in the last 3 nights ??! That was unforgettable. You were on an another LEVEL. Thank you for the memories. I’ll revisit the ones from this weekend often,” she wrote in a tweet.
In response to the turnout from Swifties Down Under, Swift also went live on Instagram Friday evening to announce a new cover for her upcoming album, as well as a bonus track from The Tortured Poets Department.
