Album Review: Short n' Sweet | Sabrina Carpenter
Song of the Summer Recipient Takes a Victory Lap
Sabrina Carpenter’s career has been steadily ascending, and with her latest album Short N’ Sweet, she has truly discovered her unique sound, coupled with commercial success. This summer, Carpenter has been a major pop culture sensation, starting with the release of the incredibly catchy and meme-worthy track "Espresso" in April, which quickly earned the unofficial "Song of the Summer" title. Just two months later, she dropped the instant hit "Please Please Please," which went viral, in part due to the music video featuring her boyfriend, Barry Keoghan. Carpenter’s ability to capture the zeitgeist with these releases has solidified her status into the upper echelon of pop stardom.
Sabrina’s rise to the top of the music industry has been a long and winding journey. It’s a tale as old as time, Carpenter is an ex-Disney Channel (Girl Meets World) actress who transitioned from Disney star to pop sensation, but her success came only after years of hard work following her time with the big Mouse came to an end in 2017.
Before Short N’ Sweet was even released, the signs were all there for this record to cement Sabrina into one of the biggest albums of the year. In the United Kingdom, Sabrina Carpenter made history by holding the top two spots on the UK Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks with "Please Please Please" at number one and "Espresso" at number two, becoming the first female artist to do so and matching Ed Sheeran's record.
"Short N’ Sweet" is poised to become Sabrina's most successful chart debut yet, with projections indicating over 300K units sold in the first week, securing the top spot on the Billboard 200. Sabrina's rise has been anything but typical—this being her sixth album, she's now selling six times the amount of her previous first-week sales combined, and 16x times the first week of her last record, emails I can’t send.
Sabrina Carpenter captured the mainstream with the genius track "Espresso," a song tailor-made for the TikTok generation. Packed with memorable lyrics like "that’s that me espresso," "my give-a-fucks are on vacation," and "I’m working late, 'cause I’m a singer," the track quickly became an internet sensation this summer. Sabrina's close friendship with Taylor Swift—often dubbed "The Music Industry"—also played a significant role in her rise to stardom. Opening for Swift on the Eras Tour in Latin America and Singapore earlier this year helped catapult her to new heights. "Espresso" followed the buzz generated by her viral outros during performances of "Nonsense," cementing her place in the pop culture spotlight.
The title Short N’ Sweet perfectly encapsulates Sabrina Carpenter's latest album. Clocking in at just 36 minutes, the 12-track record is concise yet impactful, with no features or guest appearances. What sets it apart from other modern pop albums is its seamless blend of pop, country, and hints of disco, showcasing Carpenter's versatility as she transitions her voice across various genres.
Sabrina Carpenter is a pop star who has to balance her artistic persona alongside not taking herself too seriously. Her lyrics blend raunchy, playful, and flirtatious tones with darker, self-effacing themes, often delving into more tragic territory. For instance, her previous album opened with a poignant ballad about her father's infidelity, showcasing her ability to navigate a wide emotional spectrum in her songwriting. Sabrina’s ability to inject her personality into her music has made her so interesting to listen to and see audiences respond to her music.
Sonically this record is most interesting when she incorporates this unique country-synth-twang onto the standout track Please Please Please, where she begs her lover to not embarrass her. It’s no surprise that Carpenter brought Kacey Musgraves onstage to perform with her, given that this sound echoes the essence of Musgraves’ recent work but with a poppier twist. Carpenter seamlessly blends country elements into her music, a skill she highlighted with her viral cover of Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe” earlier this summer, proving her versatility across genres.
However, some tracks on the album fall short of standing out. "Good Graces," for example, echoes early Ariana Grande, which isn't necessarily bad, but another song in the vein of "Taste" or "Espresso" might have been a stronger choice. Upon the album's release, Carpenter dropped a video for her new single "Taste," featuring Jenna Ortega. The video perfectly showcases Carpenter's duality—balancing dark, twisted elements with a light-hearted, ridiculous charm.
Warning: The video contains quite a bit of gore.
Another unique aspect of Sabrina Carpenter's music is her efficiency in crafting songs. "Short n' Sweet" clocks in at just 36 minutes for 12 tracks, with an average track length of 3:01. Whether it's a branding strategy or a move to create more radio-friendly hits, Sabrina demonstrates a keen sense of structure on this record. Most of the tracks adhere to a concise and effective intro-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge format, showcasing her punctuality and precision in songwriting.
Without a doubt, Sabrina has perfected the craft of virality with her latest album rollout, orchestrating a bulletproof album rollout. "Short N' Sweet" stands as a testament to her talent and strategic prowess, garnering the acclaim it truly deserves. As Sabrina rides this wave of success, it will be fascinating to witness how she continues to evolve and build upon this remarkable achievement. The journey ahead for Ms. Me-Espresso looks to be as compelling as the music she’s already delivered.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Taste, Please Please Please, Espresso
You Can Skip: Dumb & Poetic, Good Graces
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 7.33
Carson’s Score: 7.75
Overall Album Score: 15.08
Notes from Bennett:
Ariana Grande stans are so excited to call Sabrina a colonizer after hearing Good Graces. They are not wrong.
Slim Pickins is awesome. It reminds me of something we saw from Kacey Musgraves in the trailer park days. It's just so fun. REMIX WHEN?!?!?! The outro is so fun and well written - a trademark strength of her writing is her outros.
Notes from Carson:
On first listen to this I wasn’t super impressed. It’s very Sabrina sounding from some of her hits this past year but I didn’t think the album as a unit was very interesting. On subsequent listens, most songs have grown on me - she’s just doing something very different than her last album emails I can’t send which I really really liked.
Took me a little longer to get into Please Please Please and Espresso than everyone else - but they remain pretty bulletproof pop songs that are super unique which I respect.
Taste is the perfect choice for the next single, really like this song and the video was WILD.
Overall, pretty good album - I’m not quite sure it’s better than emails, but definitely has higher highs.
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