Rising American singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter released her sixth studio album titled Short n’ Sweet on August 23. While the full album was released at the end of summer, Carpenter released two singles, “Espresso,” and “Please Please Please,” in April and June respectively. As of this week, Carpenter’s singles “Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” and “Taste” — all from Short n’ Sweet — have topped Billboard’s Hot 100 charts, placing them in the top three slots. Carpenter’s newest album features a variety of styles: pop, country, rock, disco, and R&B. Along with her album, Carpenter also dropped her very own Short n’ Sweet Smoothie at the internet viral Erewhon market in Los Angeles, California.
Shifting away from her previous album messages, Short n’ Sweet generally boasts a confident and assertive tone. The album draws upon Carpenter’s personal love life and displays a carefree message of approaching modern dating. The lyrics in the album are provocative and cleverly explicit, something that has become a trademark of Carpenter’s style ever since she started experimenting with the outros to her song “Nonsense” at all of her concerts. Despite this overall tone, Carpenter also reached far out into genres such as country and R&B, shaking up the album just enough to make it a fun listen. With undeniable hit songs such as “Espresso,” which has largely been regarded as 2024’s Song of the Summer, and experimental country songs such as “Lie to Girls,” the album is all but boring.
Although the general theme of the album has been repetitive throughout pop music, Carpenter’s success is arguably deserved. One of the biggest highlights in this album has been the music video for her third single “Taste,” featuring Jenna Ortega — the actress who played Wednesday Addams in the Netflix hit TV series “Wednesday.” Collin Druz and Aiden Magarian, producers of the “Taste” music video, tied the lyrics and message of the song cleanly with the plot of the music video. Starring Carpenter as the ex-girlfriend and Ortega as the current girlfriend, the music video tackles many humorous yet grim turns as Carpenter and Ortega fight each other over their shared “beloved boyfriend.” One scene from the music video was especially shocking. As Ortega is seen sharing an intimate kiss with the “boyfriend,” the camera shifts angles and reveals the huge buildup: Ortega and Carpenter kissing. This scene reflected exactly what Carpenter’s lyrics were: “You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissing you.”
The rest of the album showed similar instrumentals and ideas, which consequently made the tracklist relatively repetitive and boring. However, there were tracks such as “Bed Chem” that blew up all over the internet for the cheeky lyrics and catchy tunes. Additionally, Short n’ Sweet held some of Carpenter’s biggest hits, such as “Espresso.” Short n’ Sweet has an adequate amount of style differences, from slow ballads to energetic pop songs, justifying Carpenter’s musical skill and versatility.
Overall, Short n’ Sweet has undoubtedly been a hit for Sabrina Carpenter, cementing her status as one of the rising music artists in the pop industry. Despite releasing music for many years now, Carpenter is now a contender for some Best New Artist awards. The album played into Carpenter’s strengths, allowing new fans to see her unique style: clever wordplay, confidence in sexuality, and trendy pop melodies. It’s definitely not easy to make a pop album that feels innovative and non-redundant, and although Short n’ Sweet isn’t going to change the future of the music industry, it does show Carpenter’s knack for mastering pop. The album gets 4/5 stars for not only a solid set of songs but also for helping shape the music and culture of the summer of 2024.
