On August 18th, the long-awaited album of the summer, “Short N’ Sweet”, by American pop singer Sabrina Carpenter was released.
Carpenter is not new to the spotlight, having been an actress since her first acting role on “Law and Order” in 2011. She also starred in several Disney franchises, including “Girls Meets World”, “Adventures In Babysitting”, and more.
The release of “Short N’ Sweet” came after the first two singles were released, “Espresso” and “Please Please Please”.
“Espresso” came out as the first single on April 11 and it quickly became a massive hit, shooting to number three on the Billboard Hot 10 chart, topped international charts in 18 other countries, and became her first song to garner one billion streams on Spotify.
Later on June 6, Carpenter’s second single came out—“Please Please Please” —. The sound of the synthesizer is very notable in the song, which helped gain many listeners for Carpenter. In one week, the single debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, later rising to the number one spot. It became a worldwide phenomenon after she had her actor boyfriend, Barry Keoghan, star in the music video with her, something rarely seen in music videos.
These two singles were vital in Carpenter’s rapid boost in popularity, being dubbed as “songs of the summer”, leading to the release of the album.
My (Aleish’s) personal favorites included “Taste”, “Bed Chem”, and “Don’t Smile”. I’m a sucker for Carpenter’s pop melodies and “Taste” provided just that, alongside an epic music video starring another one of my favorite short queens, Jenna Ortega.
I enjoyed “Bed Chem” for its harmonies and the beat–- it was just so catchy and I find myself nodding my head along to it whenever I listen to it. Also, it’s such a fun song that I just fell in love with it.
“Don’t Smile” has a more mellow, almost lo-fi beat that I wasn’t sure about at first, but I quickly came to adore it. It’s a bittersweet song and I love songs that have that sort of emotion. “Don’t Smile” had everything I love about Carpenter’s simple yet meaningful lyricism in it.
While I (Isidora) agree with Aleish’s top picks, there is no denying that “Good Graces” was one of the best songs of the album. It became a quick fan-favorite for its upbeat and K-Pop-like rhythm. On Spotify, it is the most streamed song of the album that is not a single, showing its quick popularity.
The song “Juno” is a taste of her old album “emails i can’t send” in terms of the beat. A very calm yet upbeat song at the same time and much vocalizing reminds me very much of her previous song “Tornado Warnings”. It helps give nostalgia when listening to it, seeing how her music has grown throughout the years if you’ve been a fan for that long.
As someone who listens to more rock-like music on a daily basis, liking and willingly listening to calm songs isn’t really my thing. However, “Lie To Girls” is a song worth picking. As a girl, the song’s meaning definitely felt like a very universal girly song that was made for almost every single teenage girl or young adult woman. Carpenter using multiple versions of her voice in the chorus helps with giving a majestic vibe every single listen.
The songs “Sharpest Tool” and “Dumb & Poetic” were more on the calmer and softer toned songs. They weren’t outstanding songs, but they weren’t bad at all. The most memorable part of those songs was when “Sharpest Tool” had a glittery sparkle sound at the very end, making it a very magical feeling.
We both agreed that “Slim Pickins” was not our favorite. Neither of us are really country girls, and this song had a twang to it that wasn’t our favorite. While the song itself was very country, there was one part that I —Isidora— liked, which was right before the chorus, but despite that, it would be mainly a skip.
The very same opinion goes for the song “Coincidence”. While it wasn’t as country, the guitar in the background still gave it a heavy country feeling. In my opinion, it is more tolerable than “Slim Pickins”, but if it were to come up on my playlist, it would be a skip the second or third time.
Sabrina Carpenter truly knows how to end the album with a bang, using “Don’t Smile”. The song captures the whole meaning of her album with the lyrics “Don’t smile because it happened/Baby, cry because it’s over”, meaning that the relationship was quite short, yet enjoyable, with good memories. Using a smooth drum and a soft 80s-style beat truly helped shape the overall vibe of the album Carpenter advertised, a nostalgic album about good times in relationships.
The release of this album has given her more and more fame, as social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok celebrate it. In over ten years of being in the spotlight, Sabrina has finally risen to the top, as she greatly deserves.