This Sabrina Carpenter song is perfect for CPR — and nurses put it to the test
Three labor and delivery nurses from Texas — Julie Watson, Nicole Curry, and Alyssa Gonzalez — are using Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song “Please Please Please” in a life-saving way. They recently took to TikTok to demonstrate how the song’s rhythm can guide chest compressions during CPR, showing it can do more than get listeners into a musical groove.
In a TikTok video captured by Curry, Watson performs compressions to Gonzalez’s rendition of the song during their routine CPR training.
In an interview with TODAY.com, the three colleagues explain that they put the song and its CPR effectiveness to the test while completing Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) training.
“Basically, we have to do what’s called RQI, which is like quarterly training for CPR. You practice with mannequins and things like that. We had seen on TikTok that this could be the correct rate,” Curry shares.
“The mannequin corrects you if you’re doing it too fast or too slow, but it never corrected us,” Watson adds. “So, we were like, ‘Yeah, it works!’”
Their post quickly gained attention on the social media platform. Hundreds of users were quick to express their gratitude for their guide to using CPR during an emergency.
“She hit them notes,” one user replied.
“Best CPR Coach I’ve ever seen,” another wrote.
As Gonzalez notes, the song can be a helpful tool even outside of a hospital setting.
“It’s a good reminder that everybody knows. It can help people stay on the beat during CPR until paramedics arrive,” she explained.
For the nurses, this discovery was a fun and practical way to educate others, and they hope their video helps people understand just how critical these life-saving skills are.
Over the summer, after “Please Please Please” debuted, the American Heart Association (AHA) declared that the song’s beats work for performing hands-only CPR.
“Please, please, please… Learn Hands-Only CPR. It has just two steps and could save the life of someone you love,” the organization wrote in a post on Instagram. “If you see a teen or adult collapse, call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest.”
Hands-only CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, involves continuously performing chest compressions without using mouth-to-mouth rescue breaths. In the past, the American Heart Association (AHA) has advised the public to use songs with a tempo of 100 to 120 beats per minute (BPM) to guide the rhythm of chest compressions.
Season 5 of “The Office” showed members of the cast learning how to use CPR while singing “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. Other popular tracks like “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira, “The Man” by Taylor Swift, and Chappel Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” also match the CPR rhythm.
