Sabrina Carpenter embodies pop perfection with 6th studio album 'Short n’ Sweet'
Sabrina Carpenter's new album “Short n’ Sweet” wields both humor and vulnerability to dissect her relationships over her two-year writing process.
In just over 36 minutes, Carpenter adlibs and vocalizes on tracks produced by Jack Antonoff with beats ranging from country to disco.
“I think that ‘Short n’ Sweet’ is a perfect pop album," Sofia Rodriguez, a sophomore at FSU, said. "It seems like a flirtier version of her previous album, ‘Emails I Can’t Send.’”
At the age of 12, Carpenter jump-started her career with guest roles in shows such as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and small musical performances. In 2013, Carpenter was cast as Maya Hart in Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World” and signed a five-album deal with the then Disney-owend label Hollywood Records.
Carpenter released her first single, “Can’t Blame a Girl For Trying” in April 2014, later inspiring the name of her first EP. Carpenter released her first album “Eyes Wide Open" in 2015.
The pop artist rapidly accumulated a moderate fanbase, affectionately referred to as the Carpenters, but did not receive wide-scale accolades like many of her Disney peers. Her mainstream musical success came when she opened for "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" from Aug. 2023 through March 2024, garnering attention for her trendy outfits, stage presence and quirky lyrics.
The album’s first single “Espresso” was released on April 11, just one day before Carpenter's debut Coachella performance. Following the song's performance on one of the country’s largest stages, "Espresso" shot to the top of the charts and was crowned song of the summer by numerous publications.
The song's quick rise to fame was rivaled only by the subsequent single “Please Please Please,” released June 6, with the two singles battling for the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The popularity of these songs accumulated in Grammy buzz and over a billion streams, before the album was even released, garnering Carpenter recognition ten years in the making.
“I listened to the album when it was first released at midnight and I haven’t stopped listening since," Lorelei Becker, a junior at FSU,said. "The production is just so incredible and every song flows together seamlessly.”
"Short n' Sweet" opens with a clear display of Carpenter’s pop prowess with “Taste” — a jealous pop ballad directed at her ex’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. The opening song is enchanted with guitar riffs and an 80s pop production. The accompanying music video, released Aug. 23, stars Carpenter alongside frequent horror movie actress Jenna Ortega and pays homage to the 1992 fantasy film “Death Becomes Her.”
With “Good Graces” and “Don’t Smile,” Carpenter experiments with an R&B-inspired sound, which many fans hoped would make a comeback in her discography. Carpenter uses these songs to humorously chastise the men she dates through a message of self-confidence.
“Bed Chem” has an 80s disco pop production reminiscent of the work of Michael Jackson, accompanied by innuendos and double entendres that are famously featured in Carpenter’s writing.
Carpenter also experimented with a sound inspired by country music with “Coincidence” and “Slim Pickins” — the latter having been sung before its release at her Grammy Museum performance on Aug. 2. Through the exploration of the country genre, Carpenter ponders her tendency to lower her standards due to the constant she faces in dating.
“I really love the acoustic touch she added to everything. I might even prefer it to her bubblegum pop songs," freshman Cat Salgado said. "I might be biased because I typically listen to alternative, indie rock and folk, but this album reminds me of Madison Cunningham and ‘Positions’ by Ariana Grande all at once.”
The album’s tenth track “Juno” highlights Carpenter’s reference humor with an allusion to the 2007 romantic comedy of the same name. Like the film, this track explores the relationships between sexuality and pregnancy. The song title serves as a double reference, as Juno is also the Greek goddess of fertility and childbirth, emphasizing how Carpenter’s sexual feelings for the object of the song positively influence her thoughts about being pregnant.
Through the softer songs on the album, “Sharpest Tool,” “Dumb & Poetic” and “Lie to Girls,” Carpenter delivers devastatingly sad songs reminiscent of “Because I Liked a Boy” from "Emails I Can’t Send." The songs provide an essence of relatability accessible to all listeners.