Sabrina Carpenter Is Headlining ‘Fortnite Festival’ Season 8
It looks like Fortnite is about to get a shot of espresso. Rumors have long been swirling that leakers found evidence that Sabrina Carpenter was set to make her way to the game by way of first looks at official items. Then, as recently as Friday, Epic Games themselves fanned the flames with a post on the official Fortnite X page teasing an April 8 release date for something Sabrina Carpenter-related. But we now know exactly what the details are.
Revealed in a blog post on the official Fortnite website, the two-time Grammy winner will officially headline Fortnite Festival Season Eight beginning on April 8. Festival is the Rock Band-like game mode that lives within the larger Fortnite ecosystem and lets up to four players perform together online. Carpenter joins previous Festival headliners, including Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, and even Metallica.
The “Sabrina Carpenter Outfit” is part of the Music Pass (1,400 V-Bucks)
Epic Games
By unlocking the Season Eight Music Pass, players can access a ton of new Carpenter-inspired content, including new Jam Tracks “Juno” and “Nonsense,” which are fully playable as performances with others in Festival. Of course, the biggest selling point is the ability to play as Sabrina herself, who comes with two skins (each with two color variations) based on outfits from her recent Short n’ Sweet tour.
Upon purchasing the music pass, players will immediately be granted the primary Carpenter outfit, as well as the Lego-fied version for the Lego Fortnite mode, featuring the yellow babydoll the singer famously wore on tour. By earning XP to climb the rungs of the battle pass, players can unlock multiple new guitars and a variation of the main Carpenter outfit.
In statement provided to Rolling Stone, Carpenter says that although she’s hadn’t played Fortnite prior to the collaboration, she feels she couldn’t say no to an opportunity to approach her fans from a different way. “I’ve always found it exciting for fans to be able to interact and engage with music through different art forms and to interact in a way that’s genuinely fun,” Carpenter says. “So, for the fans that haven’t been able to come to the tour, or to any new fans, this is such a special way to still be a part of Short n’ Sweet world.”
The “Tour Ready” look is sold separately or as part of a bundle in the shop.
Epic Games
Alternatively, in the Fortnite shop, a secondary outfit dubbed “Tour-Ready” will also be available alongside a slew of new choreographed dance emotes, new back bling, and a mics. Purchasing a bundle will unlocked all of these non-Music Pass items and other previous Jam Tracks, including “Espresso” and “Feather” will also be available in the store.
To purchase a music pass (or battle pass, or anything really) in Fortnite requires V-Bucks, the game’s virtual currency. 1,000 V-Bucks is $8.99, meaning the 1,400 V-Bucks needed for the Fortnite Festival season 8 comes to just under $13. V-Bucks are also obtainable by playing any Fortnite mode and progressing through its daily and weekly challenges.
Carpenter joining Fortnite means she’ll be immortalized as a cartoony caricature usable across all the game’s new modes. Recently, artists like Chappell Roan have expressed a desire to become part of the game, whose early works with artists like Travis Scott and Ariana Grande led to some of the biggest virtual concerts in gaming.
Guitars and more can be unlocked by progressing through the music and battle passes and collecting XP.
Epic Games
Carpenter tells Rolling Stone that, given the opportunity to play as anyone in the world as a Fortnite character, she’d choose Dolly Parton (“She’s an icon”). She also hits back against the idea that her avatar is disproportionally sized in-game, joking, “My avatar is for sure height appropriate, as Fortnite characters are all around six foot three, which is actually how tall I am in real life too.”
Since launching in late 2023, Fortnite Festival has been its own dedicated music-oriented space within the Fortnite client, bringing in a new headlining artist every three months or so. The current season is headlined by virtual pop star Hatsune Miku and ends on April 8, turning over to the Carpenter mini era.
More details on all of the major seasonal updates, including non-Carpenter-related items in the shop and battle pass, as well as technical updates and patch notes, can be found on Epic’s blog post.
Fortnite is free-to-play and available to play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, Windows, macOS, and was recently announced to be coming to Nintendo Switch 2.
