Sabrina Carpenter Serves Sweet Revenge On a Platter in Sixth Studio Album ‘Short n’ Sweet’
Following the successes of tracks like “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” released earlier this year, our beloved pop star princess Sabrina Carpenter has finally delivered the anthem for the tail end of our summers with her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet.
Photo via Sabrina Carpenter
Over the last few months, the 25-year-old singer dominated the charts and took on stages like Outside Lands, Coachella, Capital’s Summertime Ball, and many more iconic festivals and venues. Her highly anticipated project is sprinkled with everything Carpenter has to offer: her signature flirty wit, seasoned vocals, dynamic hooks, and dealing with the aftermath of heartache and betrayal. “I called it Short n’ Sweet for multiple reasons. It was not because I’m vertically challenged.” Carpenter joked during an interview with Zane Lowe. “It was really like I thought about some of these relationships and how some of them were the shortest I’ve ever had, and they affected me the most.” Carpenter took to Electric Lady Studios for the making of the album alongside the brilliant minds of Jack Antonoff, Amy Allen, John Ryan, and Ian Kirkpatrick.
Without skipping a beat, the first line of the record doesn’t wait for the listener to get comfortable– Carpenter gets right into a tale of sweet revenge in “Taste”: “Oh I leave quite an impression / Five feet to be exact / You’re wonderin’ why half his clothes went missin’ / My body’s where they’re at.” Reminiscent of themes found in tracks like “Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac and “Deja Vu” by Olivia Rodrigo, Carpenter makes it known that you’ll truly never get away from the sound of the woman who loved you. She haunts the narrative of her ex’s next relationship over an upbeat track backed by a ringing electric guitar. Jenna Ortega, who has been the face of various darker-themed flicks, fittingly starred in the song’s music video as the other woman in Carpenter’s love triangle. Its explicit imagery embodies the femme fatale, bloody horror picture we didn’t know we needed until now.
Carpenter is famous for her cheeky puns and sexual innuendos cleverly embedded into her lyricism, with videos of her outros for “Nonsense” circulating the internet for quite some time. Her sexuality has become an integral part of her musical identity, with a line like “Move it up, down, left, right, oh / Switch it up like Nintendo” from her leading single “Espresso” playing on a loop in every listener’s minds right upon release. Yet, “Bed Chem” takes the cake for the most fun and flirtatious song on the album. Its shimmering instrumentation glistens over Carpenter’s precise vocals as she cuts to the chase: “Where art thou? / Why not uponeth me? / See it in my mind / Let’s fulfill the prophecy.”
The warm, snappy strums in “Slim Pickins” initially took fans by surprise when the singer took it to her Grammy Museum live performance a few weeks ago. Its country twang, reminiscent of Dolly Parton, highlights a register that Carpenter’s vocals effortlessly thrive in. She brings humorous yet succinct thoughts to unserious lines like, “This boy doesn’t even know / The difference between ‘there,’ ‘their’ and ‘they are.’ “The track’s placement near the end of the record feels intentional as she discouragingly combs through potential prospects after the emotional journey she took in the tracks prior. She further highlights the dead-end she seems to hit in her last line: “And since the Lord forgot my gay awakenin' / Then I’ll just be here in the kitchen / Servin’ up some moanin’ and bitchin.’”
In “Sharpest Tool,” Carpenter pens a heavily reflective and conversational piece about a relationship that refused to be defined and left her second-guessing: “If that was casual, then I’m an idiot,” she hums, with the heart-wrenching “We never talk about it” furiously scribbled across the chorus. Whilst an airier track, Carpenter’s frustration bleeds through in gentle prowess. “Dumb & Poetic” strikes the subject with similar-natured jabs in unmasked disgust: “Just cause you talk like one / Doesn’t make you a man.”
She slips into an Ariana Grande-esque, nineties R&B-leaning track for “Good Graces,” where she warns her partner how swiftly and drastically she’s willing to switch up if they fail to treat her right.“Boy, it’s not that complicated,” she reiterates throughout the verses, and while a friendly air surrounds the song, it’s abundantly clear she isn’t playing around. Her silky, smooth vocals elevate the lyricism further as she tackles each run with ease. Traces of this track’s sonic fingerprint can be found in the sultry groove of “Don’t Smile” as well. Carpenter twists the cliché phrase and makes it the center theme of the track: “Don’t smile because it happened baby / Cry because it’s over.” It claims the spot as the project’s final bow, wrapping up one of the album’s major messages– heartbreak leaves cuts and bruises despite how short-lived they might have been. Yet, what an opportunity it is that we had the capacity to feel everything so deeply and through a light-hearted lens.
Short n’ Sweet is packed to the brim with the singer’s unmatched charisma, confidence, and clever humor. Sugar and spice make everything sweet and nice, after all. At least, in the land of Sabrina Carpenter.
Listen to her full album Short n’ Sweet here. Make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to see Carpenter live on her Short n’ Sweet Tour as well.
