This year’s pop princess, Sabrina Carpenter, has had us on the edge of our seats all summer in anticipation for her sixth studio album Short n’ Sweet. The record consists of 12 great songs; in each one, Sabrina really allows us to feel each emotion attached to the unresolved situation she so rawly sings about. Between them, the project is flirtatious, dreamy, funny and sexy while still being so beautifully vulnerable and honest. Short n’ Sweet has taken the internet by storm, and for many good reasons.
The opening track, “Taste” truly sets the tone for the album. It’s upbeat and fun, perfectly placing itself in the growing disco-pop scene. Her lyrics, though, are what truly keep you listening – they’re bold and cheeky, yet you can still tell they come from a true place of depth and real experience. Her lyricism makes room for a type of subtle shock factor, which Sabrina says isn’t new.
In a recent interview with Apple Music, the star talks of songs she wrote when she was a late teen. She says, “the ideas were there, the humour was there, or the cheekiness or the direction was there.” She adds, “blunt and sarcastic, that was all there.” Here we learn that this way of writing isn’t new for Sabrina, but has always been her, and it’s definitely an important aspect of this album. Her lyrics are vulnerable in the most easygoing, breezy and comical way, tracks eight and 11, “Dumb & Poetic” and “Lie to Girls” clearly capture this, and adopt a more balladic, mellow tone in their musicality.
This type of musicality stands out in her track “Sharpest Tool”, wherein the beginning of the song is more uptempo in comparison to her slower singing over the top. Much like most of the other songs on the record, Sabrina’s lyrics are raw and vulnerable. They adopt a storytelling technique which works so well for this genre, as seen by the likes of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. Her singing voice sounds strained in the best way to highlight the confusion and yearning of Sabrina with her lyrics. This is heard in “Coincidence” and “Lie to Girls” too: the story sounds heartbreaking, but is reflected in a way which sounds dreamy and reminiscent. After the hit song, “Espresso” plays, it feels like there is a subtle shift to the slower, more classical pop pieces, then a return to the more uptempo hits, with the cheeky song, “Juno”.
The disco-pop sound flows throughout the whole record, especially in her hit single “Espresso” and other songs “Bed Chem”, “Juno” and “Good Graces”. The songs are hard not to sing or dance along to, being so catchy and well put together. Importantly, influences can be heard from many genres. “Please, Please, Please” feels like it has some funk, soul and jazz aspects laced within it, while “Slim Pickins” clearly has a country-music tone. All of the songs fit so well together on the project, yet we can still hear the uniqueness in each one.
We can hear the instruments so clearly on Short n’ Sweet, especially the guitar. This could be the instrument that stands out the most, followed closely by the piano. The guitar riffs on track five, “Coincidence”, are so prominent and fun to listen to, really standing out. The use of the guitar is also memorable in “Espresso”, alongside Sabrina’s voice and lyrics. Her voice also feels like an instrument on the album, specifically when she’s not singing. Her talking voice, laughing adlibs and jokes mainly heard in the pre-chorus and bridges of the songs are undoubtedly cool and quirky. The music and her voice work together to create the pieces, especially in “Good Graces”, and it sounds like her lyrics are responsible for the changes in the music layering throughout the track.
Finally, “Don’t Smile” closes the album. It serves to create a cyclical structure, referencing the idea of the ‘other woman’, like in “Taste”. However, unlike the more confrontational tone of the first track, it touches on the heartbroken woman giving herself closure even if it hurts.
Sabrina Carpenter comes to the UK for her Short n’ Sweet tour next March. She’ll start in Birmingham on the sixth and ends her UK appearance in Manchester on the 14th. With the concepts and visuals that accompany this musical work, it will likely be just as good.
8.5/10