Music Review: Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short n’ Sweet’ is flirty, fun and wholly unserious
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/08/2024 (619 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Say you can’t sleep? Sabrina Carpenter knows. That’s that her espresso.
The 25-year-old pop sensation’s smash hit of the summer, “Espresso” — with its grammatical mystery of an earworm line, “That’s that me espresso” — gave listeners a taste of her newest album, “Short n’ Sweet.” The former Disney Channel actor’s sixth studio album follows an explosive year marked with successes, from opening for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour to performing at Coachella.
She’s confident, she’s radiant, and she’ll air out all your dirty laundry in a breakup song if you wrong her.
In the flirty, fun and wholly unserious “Short n’ Sweet,” Carpenter’s soprano vocals take humorous jabs at exes and drop innuendos with an air of cheeky innocence. Sugary songs like “Taste” and “Juno” incorporate enough NSFW references to have listeners blushing almost as much as the rosy-cheeked singer.
There’s a country twang to some tracks, like “Slim Pickins,” an acoustic number bemoaning the difficulties of finding a good man and having to settle for a guy who “doesn’t even know the difference between ‘there,’ ‘their’ and ‘they are.’”
Carpenter shows a more vulnerable side with ballads like “Dumb & Poetic” and “Lie to Girls,” in which she drops her carefree front to sing unguarded lyrics airing out grievances against an ex.
“Don’t think you understand,” she sings in “Dumb & Poetic.” “Just ’cause you act like one doesn’t make you a man.”
But it’s when pop tracks blend into R&B that Carpenter really shines. Her breathy vocals work so well on such tracks as “Good Graces” and “Don’t Smile,” reminiscent of Ariana Grande or Mariah Carey.
Which direction will she take next? Only Carpenter knows. Isn’t that sweet? Carpenter guesses so. That is, after all, that her espresso.