3 Classic Dolly Parton Songs We’d Give Anything To Hear Sabrina Carpenter Cover

After receiving two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 67th Grammy Awards in February 2025, pop star Sabrina Carpenter announced the release of a deluxe edition of Short n’ Sweet with one notable addition: a collab with none other than Dolly Parton. “She wouldn’t want me to swear but holy s***!!!” Carpenter wrote on X. (We speak for pop lovers everywhere when we say: same.)

The news of a Sabrina Carpenter and Dolly Parton collaboration got us thinking about other incredible crossovers that could come from these two blonde bombshells. On the deluxe version of Short n’ Sweet, Parton sings on Carpenter’s pseudo-country “Please Please Please.” But with Carpenter’s impressive vocal chops, she could easily hop on a Parton song—or three.

Sabrina, Dolly, if you’re reading this, here are our picks.

“I Will Always Love You”

Long before Whitney Houston turned “I Will Always Love You” into a powerhouse belter in 1992 for The Bodyguard, Dolly Parton wrote and recorded a much tamer and sweeter version of the song in 1973. Parton has often talked about how much she loved Houston’s version, which elevated a relatively simple, straightforward song into a goosebump-inducing power ballad. But we think Sabrina Carpenter could take this classic love song back to its roots, offering a version more akin to the 1973 original. Indeed, this wouldn’t be the first time Carpenter has rocked a pre-1980 cover.

We imagine Sabrina Carpenter’s version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” would be similar to the “Espresso” singer’s rendition of Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” which she busted out while performing on the Eras tour with Taylor Swift.

“Backwoods Barbie”

Sabrina Carpenter was paying homage to Dolly Parton months before she announced her collaboration with the country music icon in February 2025. Carpenter included Parton’s hit song “9 to 5” on her “Short n’ Sweet” tour the previous year, matching the same energy as her earworm “Espresso” line, I’m working laaaaate, ‘cause I’m a singer. We’d argue that Carpenter would rock a cover of Parton’s “Backwoods Barbie,” which Parton included in the musical adaptation of the 1980 comedy 9 to 5 starring Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda. Naturally, “Backwoods Barbie” is sung by Parton’s character, Doralee.

We think Carpenter, an artist who, like Parton, has been vilified for her overt feminine sexuality, would be able to give a convincing performance of lines like, I’m just a backwoods Barbie, too much makeup, too much hair. Don’t be fooled by thinking that the goods are not all there.

“Jolene”

We know, we know, “Jolene” is the Dolly Parton cover that virtually everyone does—even Beyoncé on her debut country album Cowboy Carter. But come on, how can we not want to hear Sabrina Carpenter’s take on this Parton classic? We imagine Carpenter would double down on the grooving riff from Parton’s original version from the early 1970s, transporting the song into present-day with an even dancier, unserious vibe. Like Beyoncé, we suspect that Carpenter might change the lyrics to make the narrator less desperate and more determined, akin to Carpenter’s record-breaking, sassy ode to an ex’s new fling, “Taste.” Who knows, maybe Carpenter could even be the Jolene in question.

However she decided to put her spin on it, we don’t doubt that Sabrina Carpenter could embody all the heart, sass, and strength that Dolly Parton has imbued in her vast musical catalogue. Is the world ready for that much platinum-blonde hair and sequins all at once? We don’t know. But we’re ready to find out, that’s for sure.

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy