Trent Reznor has declared Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping hit ‘Espresso’ as the best song of 2024.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman was asked for his pick by radio station Alt 98.7 on the red carpet at the Golden Globes last weekend (January 5)

“I’m gonna have to go with ‘Espresso’,” the musician replied, much to the interviewer’s surprise. Watch the moment below.

‘Espresso’ was released in April last year, from Carpenter’s sixth album ‘Short N’ Sweet’, and is up for Record Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at this year’s Grammys. It has already picked up the MTV Video Music Award for Song Of The Year.

The song also narrowly missed out on being named as Spotify’s most streamed song of 2024, coming in second place behind Billie Eilish’s ‘Birds Of A Feather’.

Carpenter recently said that upon its release, she felt she had “literally no idea” if the public would like the song.

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“I remember deciding to put this song out in the beginning of summer and thinking espresso, coffee is kind of more of a fall beverage,” she said. “I really didn’t know if it would connect, but the sentiment and the sound of the song and the confidence that it kind of just carries along with it was something that I really believed in.”

She continued: “So I had literally no idea that anyone would like it, but I liked it, and that was kind of all that mattered to me in that moment, and something I try to remember over and over again.”

It is not the first time that Reznor has spoken up for a modern pop song – in 2023, he said Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’ made him “tear up” when he heard his daughter sing along to it.

Reznor and musical partner Atticus Ross left the Golden Globes with gold after winning the Best Original Score award for their work on Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. They are also shortlisted at the Oscars this year for both Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

The pair have continued to hint at new music from Nine Inch Nails too, with Ross saying last year: “I do feel excited about starting on the next record. I think we’re in a place now where we kind of have an idea.”

More recently, Reznor shared that the group were “taking the inspiration we’ve garnered and funnelling it into a Nine Inch Nails project, which we’re working on now. We’re ready to be back in the driver’s seat,” confirming that new material is in the works.

A new album would mark the band’s first since 2020’s surprise ambient double LP ‘Ghosts V-VI‘ which followed 2018’s ‘Bad Witch’.

They have also been confirmed to be working on the soundtrack on the upcoming film Tron: Ares for Disney.