Island Records superstar Sabrina Carpenter has just released her new album on August 23, 2024. Garnering larger fame from supporting the Taylor Swift Eras Tour from 2023 into 2024, her new release is cutely titled Short n’ Sweet, and is a fun addition to the Pop scene that has been all over the place with new hits from Chappel Roan, Kendrick Lamar, along with that strange Post Malone/Morgan Wallen duet.
Already boasting a sold out North American tour, the public consensus and hype for Short n’ Sweet is impossible to overstate. This is definitely not a bad thing though; because the musician deserves her spot for understanding Pop and innovating it in fun ways that invoke the past without feeling like weak copies of the ’80s anthems with extra sound effects and smooth bass added into them. Long story short, Short n’ Sweet is another break-up themed album. Chances are it is just the same break story as always, but with maybe a few new twists and revelations involved. Repurposing her past stories into new ones is nothing amazing, but there are still a few great tunes on the album.
The biggest of these being her two pre-released singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.” Looking at these two, while “Espresso” has a fun R&B inspired beat with nonsense lyrics and weak metaphors, it is one of those earworms that just can’t be denied. Here her voice rises over the beat and falls with it is catchy in its own way, even without the simple to grasp lyrics. Now for “Please Please Please,” the story is different. This not-so-subtle nod to her new boyfriend, Barry Keoghan, famous from his appearance in 2023’s Saltburn, is a fun Pop anthem where Carpenter begs her lover to be nice for the night and keep up appearances. What is great about this song and the themes of Short n’ Sweet is Carpenter’s self- awareness. Like other girl Pop anthems (Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy”), the singer knows they are the issue and not only are they unwilling to change, and actually relish the complications that come with the decisions they are making.
Intentions aside, Carpenters Short n’ Sweet is an airy yet snappy lovesick symphony from an artist who is known for her infatuated and sometimes raunchy lyrics. The title might be a great way to describe the emotional experiences she is expressing in each of these songs, but lengthwise this new release is only one 3-minute song shorter than her last album, 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send. Considering all this, Carpenter at her silliest is on “Good Graces” where a nice R&B sound with a fun tone juxtaposes her hilarious chorus. She effortlessly sings “I won’t give a f*ck about you, no I won’t, I won’t give a f*ck about you,” as if it was nothing more than passing conversation.
In all, this album does not have to try hard to get its point across; everything is a funny little joke that Carpenter is not trying too hard to be serious about. Continuing this is “Juno,” which is something like a love song, BDSM innuendo compliments Carpenter’s bizarre requests. Not to mention the song is named after the 2007 pregnancy Rom-Com-Drama movie by the same name (featuring the nerdy, if not lovable Elliot Page and Michael Cera).
“Juno,” one of the songs that really solidifies the album, is not a searching endeavor into what went wrong or what could go even more catastrophically wrong in the future. It’s a fun energy-filled exploration of the hilarity of reality. After all, people change their minds on whims and pure stupidity is nothing more than a silly coincidence. Carpenter’s fun wordplay and metaphors create soundscapes that leave you thinking just long enough for the next bridge or verse to take over the song. This cycle could be labeled vicious, but that would be a violation of Carpenter’s fairy-like voice and escapist dreamlike chord progressions and sound effects. Seriously though, the sound effect in “Bed Chem” cannot be described as anything else other than shimmering sparkles.
This leaves the other works on the album – such as “Taste,” “Dumb & Poetic,” “Slim Pickins,” “Don’t Smile,” and “Sharpest Tool” – all feel too close to the Pop median. They are not throwaways by any means, saved by fun wordplay and cute adlibs, but there is nothing special in them.
Overall, Short n’ Sweet is full of snazzy innuendos and jokes which float nicely over manicured and creative musical scores. Carpenter’s 6th studio album, it falls into a few of the same soundscapes as previous works, showcasing her style and genre well, but there is still plenty of unique sound here which go above and beyond. For these reasons, Cryptic Rock gives Short n’ Sweet 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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