Throughout the long history of music, love has been likened to every drug under the sun. But in this summer's heady hit, Sabrina Carpenter claims she's so irresistible that she pushes her lovers to the brink of insomnia. “Is it that sweet? I guess so,” she whispers to “Espresso,” eyelash extensions fluttering innocently. “Say you can't sleep baby, I know, that's the espresso.” Her charm is so hot that it melts grammar into something wonderfully dumb and maybe genius. Over a breezy nu-disco beat, Carpenter delivers silly syntactically shredding lines—“I walked in and the dream came true for ya”…“I know Mountain Dew it for ya”—with the cheeky “yoo-hoo” of a Gen Z Betty Boop.
“Espresso” and its even more successful follow-up single, “Please Please Please,” catapulted the 25-year-old Carpenter into a new echelon of pop stardom. It's been a long time. She spent her teenage years starring in a spin-off of the sitcom Boy meets world and released her first four records under the Disney umbrella. Like many before her, she finally left the mouse ears to drop her first 'big girl' album, 2022 Email I can't send.
So here we are on Carpenter's sixth album, Short n' Sweeta tee-hee title for a 36-minute album by a singer who is just under five feet tall. In a pop landscape recently plagued by self-seriousness and a tiresome obsession with authenticity, Short n' Sweet it's a refreshing glass of escape. Rest assured, Carpenter didn't bunny hop in a vulnerable phase-E-mail touched on a range of personal experiences, including break-ups, parental infidelity and the fallout from a love triangle involving a certain 'driver's licence'. But up Short n' SweetCarpenter is here to have a good time. As he establishes on the opening track, “Taste”: “Singing doesn't mean I care.”
Across 12 tracks, Carpenter plays with some well-known pop figures. There's a glimmer of pop-rock (the semi-clear “Taste”), the Dolly-indebted twang (“Slim Pickins,” “Sharpest Tool”) and at least one steamy R&B (“Good Graces”). Although the monotonous vibes of “Coincidence” veer a little too close to folk-pop fire, Carpenter largely pulls off these stylistic crossovers thanks to a big voice she wields with ease. It also helps that he's backed by a who's-who of pop songwriters and producers. Short n' Sweet's The main co-writer is Amy Allen, who has many hits under her belt, including four No. 1 songs this year. Other household names include Julia Michaels, One Direction mastermind John Ryan and Ian Kirkpatrick. Jack Antonoff is here too – his shimmering synths are unmistakable on the dazzling “Please Please Please”.
