Critic Rating: 10/10
Sabrina Carpenter’s album Short n’ Sweet released on August 23, 2024, and its incredible success marked a bold turn in her artistic journey, quickly becoming her most mature and daring album to date.
The lyrics of her newest songs dive into themes of confidence, desire, intimacy, and self-assurance in sophisticated yet playful ways. The album resonates with fans for its bold storytelling, catchy pop soundscape, and confidence-inducing lyrics that feel empowering to listen to.
Carpenter, born and raised in Pennsylvania, began her career in the entertainment industry as a child actress, most notably as Maya in the Disney Channel show Girl Meets World. At just 15, she also released her first album, Eyes Wide Open, while filming Girl Meets World. Despite her efforts to break away from her Disney image, many struggled to see her as more than her Disney Channel roles.
Her previous album, emails I can’t send fwd: (2023) marked the first major turning point within her career. With personal lyrics about heartbreak, growth, and self-discovery, the album showed a vulnerable and mature side of Carpenter that resonated with fans, kick-starting her rise to popularity. Her rise as a pop-singer was primarily aided by the TikTok success of songs such as “Feather,” “Nonsense,” and “Because I Liked a Boy.” This album helped set the stage for the even more mature and bold themes in Short n’ Sweet.
Before releasing Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina also began to gain popularity as an opener on Taylor Swift’s revolutionary world tour: The Eras Stadium Tour. During the tour, she performed some of her more popular songs from previous albums, as well as sang teasers from Short n’ Sweet to excite fans and give a taste of her new sound.
Even before its release, Short n’ Sweet evoked anticipation within Swifties and Carpenter fans alike, with each track offering its own unique flavor yet staying true to Sabrina’s pop style. Here’s our take on each song on the album’s track:
“Taste”: (8.5/10)
“Taste” served as the album’s opener, and coincidently, became one of the most memorable songs on her album. The “Taste” music video deserves a notable mention as a contributor to the song’s skyrocketing popularity; starring Sabrina Carpenter and American actress Jenna Ortega, it is said to be inspired by the 1992 comedy Death Becomes Her. The inspired music video follows Sabrina Carpenter in her attempts to seek revenge on her ex-lover’s new girlfriend, played by Jenna Ortega. Fans reckon this song is also an indirect reference to her brief relationship with Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, which was suspected through lyrics like, “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you.” However, despite its clever lyrical wit and addictive beat, some of the lyrics came across as lacking depth due to the overuse of witty punchlines. Overall, it’s a fun song but didn’t resonate with us as much as some of the other songs on the album.
“Please Please Please”: (9.5/10)
“Please Please Please” was the second single released prior to Short n’ Sweet. This country pop song blew up instantaneously, as it acted as a hard launch for Sabrina Carpenter’s relationship with Irish actor Barry Keoghan. In our opinion, the addictive melody of the track makes it deserving of its #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, her first single to achieve this, within just days of its release. From the beginning, we felt hooked by Sabrina’s smooth vocals and the captivating beginning chords.
“Good Graces”: (10/10)
This track’s meaningful lyrics beautifully capture a blend of both confidence, yet vulnerability. The blend of two feelings spreads the powerful message of protecting your peace through lyrics such as, “Don’t mistake my nice for naive,” and “I don’t waste a second, I know lots of guys / You do something suspect, as cute as ‘bye-bye.’” This song became one of our favorites on the album, earning a 10/10 for its thoughtful lyrics mixed with a catchy, fun beat. We also particularly enjoyed the song due to its confidence-inducing nature, as the song is performed from the perspective of a woman unwilling to tolerate anything other than honesty from a man.
“Sharpest Tool”: (9/10)
This song highlights Sabrina Carpenter’s unfiltered thoughts on what it feels like to be in a state of emotional oblivion, subconsciously filtering out truths she didn’t want to believe. The evocative meaning behind her lyrics and slow, encapsulating instrumentals make this one of the most emotionally resonating songs on Short n’ Sweet.
“Coincidence”: (10/10)
This addictive country pop song tells the story of an unexpected love triangle involving Sabrina Carpenter’s ex. When Short n’ Sweet was first released, we fell in love with its melodic tune and clever, yet humorous implications, hence why the song deserves a 10/10. “Coincidence” is truly upbeat, and we found it impossible to listen to it without smiling and singing along.
“Bed Chem”: (8.5/10)
“Bed Chem” is a song designed to express Sabrina’s love story with Barry, starting at the moment they met and narrating the growth of their bond. The song’s lyrics encompass her passion for their relationship while providing insight into the deep connection they share. We enjoyed the song and found the meaning behind it sweet. However, we didn’t think it was as great as some of the other songs on the album, leading to us giving it an 8.5.
“Espresso”: (7.5/10)
“Espresso” was the first of the two songs dropped before the official release of Short n’ Sweet, and served as an insight into what the rest of the album would be like. The song proved to be quite inescapable, as its upbeat tempo, empowering and fun lyrics, and summery feel caused many to deem it “the song of the summer.” We believe that this song, although good, was the weakest on the album on a lyrical level. Its lyrics are meant to be playful and catchy, but we found that a lot of the wordplay sounded simplistic and didn’t carry much weight or deeper meaning. Despite this, we recommend the song with 7.5 stars, as its pop energy is bound to lift the spirits of any listener.
“Dumb and Poetic”: (9.5/10)
“Dumb and Poetic” is a heartfelt song that expresses the complexity of Sabrina’s emotions from her previous relationship. Within the song, she communicates how she felt having false hope in someone that ended up breaking her heart. Although it may not have been our favorite track from the album, this song certainly pulled on our heartstrings with the emotional vulnerability it conveys. It stands out from the other tracks on the album due to its less upbeat melody. The song also feels more intense due to her delivery of the lyrics; she allows her voice to expose a weakness that most of the other songs on the album didn’t.
“Slim Pickins”: (10/10)
“Slim Pickins” is yet another fun blend of both country and pop, providing an insight into the troubles of finding the right man. The lyrics highlight how Sabrina Carpenter grapples with feelings of longing and anticipation; the contrast between the meaningful lyrics and bright acoustic instrumentals made this song such a fun listen, hence why we gave “Slim Pickins” a 10/10.
“Juno”: (10/10)
We found “Juno” to be an incredibly catchy and playful song that is the epitome of what it feels like to fantasize about the perfect connection. “Juno” starts off with a dreamy melody, then quickly switches to an energetic tempo with ethereal vocals. It is suspected that the name “Juno” is a reference to the Roman God of love and marriage, which we thought gives the song a much more affectionate and meaningful touch. This song deserves nothing less than a 10/10 for its emotional resonance; its elevating soundscape only ever made us feel empowered and had us grinning from ear to ear.
“Lie to Girls”: (11/10)
“Lie to Girls” was our personal favorite on the album, as its sentimental tune and meaningful lyrics contrast the general upbeat melody of Short n’ Sweet. This introspective song uses lyrics such as, “There’s no need to pretend / I’ve never seen an ugly truth that I can’t bend” to convey what it’s like to subconsciously block out feelings we don’t want to confront. Overall, the track critiques dishonesty, from both romantic partners and oneself. This is another song on the album that is more vulnerable, which gives it a more nostalgic and compassionate touch. This, along with the song’s soft, piano-driven foundation, caused us to give this song an 11/10.
“Don’t Smile”: (8.5/10)
The smooth melody and ethereal touch of “Don’t Smile” play heavily in turning Short n’ Sweet into an emotional rollercoaster, and was, in our opinion, a powerful end to the album. Repetition of the line, “Don’t smile because it happened, baby, cry because it’s over,” along with Sabrina Carpenter’s poignant, yet euphonious vocals, gave this song a heartfelt touch.
Despite the roaring success of Short n’ Sweet, Carpenter recently joked in an interview, saying, “I’m 900 inappropriate jokes away from being a Disney actor, but people still see me that way.” It seems as though many still can’t move on from her past as an actress and focus on her new success as a “pop princess.”
However, while some fans seem unable to change their view of her, the singer-songwriter has gained immense popularity, going from posting videos of herself singing Taylor Swift songs to having Taylor Swift sing her songs on tour. Carpenter has realized that, despite some fans’ disapproval, her emotions in all her songs are valid and real: “Those real moments where I’m just a 25-year-old girl who’s super horny are as real as when I’m going through a heartbreak and I’m miserable and I don’t feel like a person.”
Overall, the incredible success of the album is evident; since its release, Sabrina has gained about 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify and is now the tenth most streamed artist in the world. Before she released Short n’ Sweet, she released “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” both of which made the Global Billboard 200 chart, collectively reaching over 2.5 billion streams. Since then, Short n’ Sweet has received over 3 billion streams. We would definitely recommend this album to anyone looking for songs to jump, dance, and sing along to.
