Sabrina Carpenter is a 25 year old singer/songwriter & actress from Quakertown, Pennsylvania notable for being the niece of Nancy Cartwright also known as the voice of Bart on the Fox Corporation’s flagship property’s longest running animated series The Simpsons & starring in the Boy Meets World spinoff Girl Meets World alongside Milo Murphy’s Law on The Walt Disney Company owned Disney Channel. She later signed to Hollywood Records for her first 4 studio LPs Eyes Wide Open, EVOLution, Singular & Singular II until moving over to Island Records for Emails I Can’t Send. She has since become one of the most popular artists in the world & capitalizing off some recent hit singles with her 6th album.
“Taste” was a great pop rock single further pulling from new wave, jangle pop & power pop singing about revenge & betrayal whereas “Please Please Please” featuring Dolly Parton on the remix & produced by Jack Antonoff brings together soft rock, yachty rock, urban cowboy, boogie & synthpop addressing themes of affection, frustration & concern. “Good Graces” fuses dance-pop & trap asserting the importance of setting boundaries in a relationship just before “Coincidence” pays homage to “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell continuing the concept of romantic betrayal.
Elements of contemporary R&B, pop, sophisti-pop, synthpop, boogie & yacht rock seep their way over to “Bed Chem” addressing Barry Keoghan while the smash-hit “Espresso” likens herself to the coffee as her partner can’t sleep when he’s with her fusing nu-disco, dance-pop, boogie & funktronica music. “Dumb & Poetic” reminisces on what her ex lover used to be until ultimately realising he’ll ruin her heart & her life through lies, but then “Slim Pickins” sings about trying to find the right man although unsuccessfully.
“Juno” named after the 2007 film goes over her desire to be pregnant by someone who truly cares about her & her future concept of having a family while “Lie to Girls” sings that men don’t have to deceive women due to the fact that if they like a man, they’ll simply lie to themselves & asking if she knows it better than anyone else. “Don’t Smile” ends Sabrina’s finest work yet mixing bitterness while longing calling back to the intro during the hook while “Needless to Say” starts the deluxe run attacking the lowlifes criticizing her urging them to do something better with their time & lives.
There’s a bit of an AꓭBA influence on “Busy Woman” detailing her willingness to make a change in her everyday-life in order for her new romantic partner to be with her while “15 Minutes” sings about doing a lot on that short amount of time reflecting on how she finds herself at this point in her career with her increasing popularity. “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder” tells an ex that his actions have been making her more detached from him & the final bonus track “Bad Reviews” rounds it out with a commentary on those who don’t like her music & a couple bad gut feelings regarding previous lovers.
Continuing the creative freedom of Emails I Can’t Send, Sabrina’s artistic potential from her debut single “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying” to Short n’ Sweet is truly a night & day comparison. She explores her love life & her perspectives on dating in the 2020s nearly at the halfway point of the current decade through the sounds of pop, dance-pop, contemporary R&B, pop rock, folk, nu-disco, bubblegum pop, sophisti-pop, synthpop, boogie, yacht rock, funktronica, urban cowboy & trap.
Score: 3.5/5
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