What does Tatami mean in Japan? Rina Sawayama politely rectifies Sabrina Carpenter's creative team over SNL performance

Rina Sawayama recently shared her response to Sabrina Carpenter’s team after the latter’s performance on Saturday Night Live created headlines. Notably, the latter’s act on the sketch comedy show was created in the background of a Japanese martial arts studio, as per Entertainment Weekly.

Rina’s opinion was aimed at the tatami mats used in the act, as two dancers were spotted fighting on top of them, wearing sneakers and martial arts outfits. People magazine stated that Sabrina opted for a short robe, completing the look with heels while she was singing on stage.

A day after the episode aired, Sawayama shared a post on her Instagram Story on October 19, 2025, which has now been deleted. She added a video of the Girl Meets World star’s performance and wrote:

“Big love to Sabrina [heart emoji] but fellow artists creative teams… if we are clearly referencing a culture please can you do so with the research, respect and care it deserves. Shoes on tatami is jail.”

As of this writing, Sabrina Carpenter has not responded to Rina’s post. For the unversed, tatami refers to the traditional floors commonly seen in the houses and buildings of Japan, as per Web Japan. It is also used for judo matches and is slowly becoming a part of modern interior designs.

Mats with three parts are included in tatami, and their sizes can be different based on regions. Materials like dried straw are used for the middle portion of the mat, and the other two parts are called tatami-omote. Tatami is useful as it has thermal insulation, which helps to preserve the heat and control humidity.

Sabrina Carpenter performed two songs from her latest album: SNL act and other details explained

According to Billboard, the Quakertown, Pennsylvania native initially appeared in a white T-shirt and pink underwear with the logo of Saturday Night Live. Notably, this was the part of her performance in the single, Manchild, and she later changed to the robe outfit to perform another song, Nobody’s Son.

Sabrina Carpenter’s act additionally grabbed attention as she did not change the lyrics of the second single and used the following lyrics twice, which say:

“He sure fu**ed me up.”

The lyrics were censored when the episode was aired on the West Coast alongside the YouTube videos. However, the words were heard when the episode was being shown live on NBC and Peacock. She even had an interaction with the audience during the act.

She started the act by saying that she wants to address a few misconceptions, including the fact that people consider her a “horndog pop star.” The Eyes Wide Open star said that she is very different since she likes reading, and an encyclopedia is her favorite. Sabrina Carpenter even displayed the cover of her new album, Man’s Best Friend, and referred to how people reacted to it.

“Some people got freaked out by the cover. I’m not sure why. It was just this me on all fours with an unseen figure pulling my hair. But what people don’t realize is, that’s just how they cropped it. If you zoom out, it’s clearly a picture from the 50^th anniversary special of Bowen [Yang] helping me up by the hair”, Carpenter said.

Meanwhile, Man’s Best Friend came out in August this year and has already taken the top spot on the US Billboard 200 and other charts. The album has 12 songs in the entire soundtrack, including Manchild and Nobody’s Son.