Sabrina Carpenter: “Short N’ Sweet” Album Review
BY: LYDIA CHO
Sabrina Carpenter has risen to stardom from her hit songs “Espresso” (April 11, 2024) and “Please Please Please” (June 6, 2024).
Her first album after her huge virality is “Short N’ Sweet,” which came out on August 23, 2024. Since then, it has lasted three weeks as the #1 album on the Billboard Top 100.
#12 SLIM PICKINS
While Carpenter sings along to a quick beat and makes witty references to the “douchebags” that most men are, this song is full of disappointment and the realism of modern dating. Carpenter makes fun of herself, singing that “This boy doesn’t even know the difference between there, their, and they’re / Yet he’s naked in my room.” This song is the shortest on the album, only one minute and forty-two seconds long, reminiscent of the title “Short N’ Sweet.” She repeats the phrase “I’ll just keep on moaning and bitchin’” throughout the song, again poking fun at her own bad luck when it comes to meeting her standards.
#11: Don’t Smile
With petty lyrics and a soft R&B-esque beat, Carpenter sings to her ex, saying that she wants him to miss her. She turns to the popular phrase “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” and creates her own unique spin on the idea; She tells her ex that he should “Cry because it’s over.” Repeating the phrase “I want you to miss me,” she hopes that she makes a forever mark on her ex-boyfriend. This circles back to the first song on the album, “Taste,” which is about her lingering impact on her ex and how she is always there, even though he has a new girlfriend.
#10: Lie to Girls
This is the clearest “sad song” on the album. Instead of the usual heavy pop instrumentals, this song is composed of minimal acoustic guitar and piano, which adds to the heartbroken energy of the song. Carpenter sings about how there was no need for her ex-lover to lie to her, since she liked him so much that she’d just lie to herself, mentioning that “I know it better than anyone else.” This adds to the storyline of “Dumb & Poetic,” where Carpenter was manipulated and gaslighted in this relationship and fooled by her partner’s outward aesthetic. She ends this song with a painful lament: “Girls will cry and girls will like and do it for the day they die for you.”
#9: Sharpest Tool
Carpenter introduces the song by acknowledging that she knows the subject is “not the sharpest tool in the shed.” This song is incredibly sad, but is disguised with upbeat synthesizer instrumentals and a peppy voice. Carpenter laments this old relationship, singing “You’re confused and I’m upset / But we never talk about it.” She describes the entire trajectory of this relationship, from having sex and meeting his friends, to being guilt-tripped and confused, to finally, him leaving her confused in the wake of this relationship. She heartbreakingly confesses that she knew he wasn’t the brightest, but is still upset at the lack of closure in their relationship.
#8: Bed Chem
This song, about Carpenter’s current boyfriend Barry Keoghan, is both sultry and sweet. Her wistful, high-pitched voice and the R&B synthesizer make this song unforgettable, and add to the ambiance of lustful “Bed Chem” (sex life), which is what the song is about. She calls out Keoghan in the first verse, asking “Who’s the cute boy with the white jacket and the thick accent?” (referring to his outfit at Paris Fashion Week when they first met). This song is full of dirty jokes, reminiscent of her viral Nonsense outros. She sings “Come right on me / I mean camaraderie” and also mentions how “The thermostats are set at sixty-nine.
#7: Dumb & Poetic
With a soft guitar instrumental, Carpenter laments about an ex-relationship where she was hoodwinked by his gentle aesthetic. She juxtaposes the idea that although her ex read self-help books and appeared empathetic, he manipulated her and failed to communicate. Although this song is a mourning ballad about pain, it fits the vibe of the rest of the album, with Carpenter’s unique taunting humor. She gives him a “Gold star for his brow manipulation,” and pokes fun at his pretentious obsession with aesthetics by singing: “Jack off to lyrics by Leanord Cohen.”
#6: Espresso
This song has topped the charts since it came out in April, and for good reason. It currently sits at #3 on the Billboard Top 100, and the music video has over 168 million views. Carpenter sings about her “one boy” and the peppy instrumentals create a feeling of the “honeymoon stage” of a relationship.
This song is filled with glee and love, as Carpenter sings “Say you can’t sleep / Baby I know / That’s that me Espresso.” She delightfully boasts that she is so exciting, and their relationship so exhilarating, that her partner is constantly thinking about her. Many fans have called this song “the song of the summer,” and it certainly seems that way, with over 1.2 billion streams since April.
#5: Please, Please, Please
This song was made to be a pop hit. It is an earworm in every sense of the word and has gotten stuck in my head more than I’d like to admit. Although the chorus is incredible, the real magic of the music comes from the instrumentals. The drums, synthesizer, guitars, and piano all work together to create a beautiful, sparkly sound in the crowd-pleasing key of A-Major. Carpenter’s voice matches the title, and the chorus features her whining to her lover: “Please, please, please / Don’t bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice.” This song has become a smash hit and currently sits at #4 on the Billboard Top 100, while the music video featuring boyfriend Barry Keoghan has over 104 million views.
#4: Juno
This song references the 2007 comedy with Michael Cera and Elliot Page, where “Juno” ends up pregnant as a high-schooler. Sabrina Carpenter sings about her never-ending love for her partner, admitting: “If you love me right then who knows / I might let you make me Juno.” Carpenter mentions that “Hormones are high” and asks in the outro for her partner to “Adore me / Hold me and explore me / Mark your territory.” This is a funny and unique concept for a love song, and the vision was fleshed out with a mix of mellow acoustic verses and a high-energy chorus with a steady synth beat.
#3: Coincidence
The claps between each line and upbeat guitar strumming in E Major create a unique folky-pop vibe. These instrumentals, combined with the witty lyricism, make this undoubtedly the funniest song on the album. Carpenter mocks her ex-partnership, taunting him about how his ex was “coincidentally” in the same city as him, sending him nudes, and subsequently brought up in every conversation. She jokes about how he told the truth, “Minus seven percent.” Carpenter’s humor peaks in the outro, where she sings: “Your car drove itself from LA to her thighs,” making a mockery of how obviously not coincidental any of these things were.
#2: Taste
This catchy hit is speculated to be about Carpenter’s short relationship with singer Shawn Mendes, and his following relationship with Camilla Cabello. Carpenter sings “You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissing you” in the catchy chorus. She pokes fun at the lasting impression she’s left on her ex, singing “His jokes hit different / Guess who he learned that from.”
The popularity and virality of this song reflect the incredible lyricism, beat, and melody of this song. It sits at #5 on the Billboard Top 100, with over 178 million streams on Spotify alone. The music video features Carpenter alongside Jenna Ortega and has amassed 63 million views over the past three weeks.
#1: Good Graces
This song starts mellow, opening with casual guitar plucks and a soft voice. The beat soon shifts to something more upbeat and exciting, and Carpenter’s first verse explains that she’s the perfect lover until a boy does “Something suspect,” in which case her love can turn into immediate hatred. She then enters the chorus, crooning “Boy it’s not that complicated / You should stay in my good graces.” The outro features Carpenter stating “I won’t give a fuck about you” eight times. This song is a warning. In contrast to “Please, Please, Please,” which begs her man to treat her right, Carpenter demands princess treatment in this song, proving that she knows her worth and won’t settle for anything less.
