On August 23, 2024, Sabrina Carpenter released her anticipated album “Short n’ Sweet” featuring three singles that made it to Billboard’s Hot 100. Collaborating with Jack Antonoff, Julia Micheals and Julian Bunetta, this album centers around tearing down men and her unapologetic sexuality.
The mixed use of vintage synths, acoustic instruments and vulnerable lyrics, showed a side of Carpenter we haven’t seen before and gave the album a more authentic “Sabrina” sound.
TASTE
The smooth flow between the first two tracks “Taste” and “Please, Please, Please” shows how much thought and care was put into this record. A few hours after the album’s release, Carpenter dropped a particularly gruesome music video featuring Jenna Ortega for the track.
This song is full of bitterness over a lost ex and his new girlfriend shown in the bridge, “You can have him if you like/ I’ve been there done that once or twice/ and singin’ bout it don’t mean I care/ yeah I know I’ve been known to share.”
COINCIDENCE
In “Coincidence” Carpenter starts to show a more vulnerable side to the singer we haven’t seen before. The track describes the feeling of dealing with a person who is in love with her partner with some of the best lyrics on the album such as “What a surprise, your phone just died/ Your car drove itself from L.A. to her thighs.”
The song is rumored to be about the relationship between Carpenter and Shawn Mendes in the lyrics “the way you told me the truth, minus seven percent.” Although the song has a fun undertone, the lyrics contain Carpenter’s infamous sarcasm.
BED CHEM
“Bed Chem” is the album’s most witty, raunchy piece showcasing Carpenter’s high sex drive with lyrics like “Come right on me / I mean camaraderie / Said you’re not in my time zone but you want to be / Where art thou? Why not uponeth me?”
This track showcases Sabrina’s playful nature, similar to the next track and her first single on the album, “Espresso.”
DUMB AND POETIC
“Dumb and Poetic” brings us back to the singer’s more serious side, and is full of all these little lyrical snippets of dating a toxic person who is actually intensely manipulative, as shown in the lyrics “Every self-help book / You’ve already read it / Cherry pick lines / Like they’re words you invented.”
The song will pull on the heartstrings of anyone who’s ever been stuck in a cycle with a toxic partner.
JUNO
On the contrary, “Juno,” details the beginning of a lustful relationship filled with “fuzzy pink handcuffs” and jokes like “I might let you make me Juno” in reference to the 2007 film with the same name, continuing the lyrical exploration of “Espresso” and “Bed Chem.”
It’s also another song that alludes to Carpenter’s relationship history, leaving fans to wonder who the song is about and if the singer will reveal it.
DON’T SMILE
The album concludes with the track “Don’t Smile” a melancholic ending, with Sabrina’s angelic voice singing “Don’t smile because it happened, baby, cry because it’s over.”
The track reminds us how difficult it is to truly move on from a meaningful relationship. The song beautifully captures a difficult relationship and the realization that one cannot change another person’s desires or actions.
With just over thirty minutes of an emotional rollercoaster, “Short n’ Sweet” is exactly that; short and sweet. The album was unexpectedly addicting with few skippable tracks. It is a smooth, articulate pop album that truly showcases Carpenter’s sense of humor, detailed craft and polished production.
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